Salvage operations set to begin Thursday

The salvage operation of oil tanker, MV-Sagar Nandini-2, which sank with 1.1 million litres of oil after another vessel hit it in Meghna river Sunday, will be launched Thursday morning, reports news agency UNB.

Although two barges were supposed to come from Chandpur to retrieve the vessel that had capsized, one of them, Johura, arrived Tuesday night and another one could not reach the site on time, Coast Guard (South Zone) media officer KM Shafiul Kinjal said.

The full-fledged salvage operations will start Thursday as the remaining barge arrived in the afternoon, he said.

Members of Coast Guard continued to skim oil from the sunken vessel to stop it from spilling into the river so that the biodiversity of the river is not affected, Shafiul said. “We are also working to ensure the security of Shagor Nandini-2,” he added.

On Sunday, the vessel sank after being hit by another vessel in Meghna due to dense fog in Bhola Sadar upazila. The oil on the ship spilled into the river.

Later, local administration formed a nine-member probe body, headed by additional district magistrate Ripon Kumar Saha, to investigate the incident. The committee was asked to submit its report within seven working days.