Sailors of Banglar Samriddhi headed towards Romania via Moldova

Twenty-eight sailors of the ‘Banglar Samriddhi’ ship have started for Romania after spending 39 hours at a bunker in Ukraine.

A bus headed towards Romania from a bunker near the Ukrainian port of Alvia, where the sailors on board the ship had been stranded.

The sailors are scheduled to reach Romania through Moldova. According to google maps, Moldova is the nearest country to Alvia. The distance is around 200 kilometres.

A sailor told Prothom Alo around 12:19pm over the phone that they have started towards Romania.

Banglar Samriddhi, a ship of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, was attacked by a ‘missile’ at 9:20pm (Bangladesh time) on Wednesday in the port of Alvia. Third engineer Hadisur Rahman was killed during the attack. The stranded sailors were taken to safety by a tugboat 24 hours after the attack with the help of Bangladeshi residents in Ukraine.

The ship headed towards Ukraine from Turkey’s port Eregli on 21 February and reached the outer anchorage of Ukrainian port after two days. The ship got stuck in the port as Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

On Friday, Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association criticised Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) for sending the ship to Ukraine during the war.

The organisation in its written statement said that Joint War Committee listed Black Sea waters of Ukraine, Russia as risk areas on 15 February but the Bangladeshi ship reached the outer anchorage of the Ukrainian port on 22 February.