‘Shipping corporation was irresponsible to send ship to war zone’

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

They said it was the BSC's negligence and irresponsibility to send the ship to a war zone.

Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers Association’s general secretary Md Sakhawat Hossain at a press conference in Chattogram’s Agrabad made the comment.

The comment came in the wake of a ‘missile’ attack on the Bangladeshi ship in the port of Alvia in Ukraine on Wednesday. Md Hadisur Rahman, a third engineer of the ship, was killed in the attack.

The remaining 28 sailors of the ship have been evacuated to a shelter home on Thursday.

Bangladesh’s ambassador to Poland Sultana Laila Hossain told Prothom Alo on Thursday night that preparation is on to move the sailors to Poland’s capital Warsaw.

The BSC-owned ship had been stranded in the port since 24 February as Russian forces attacked Ukraine that morning.

The marine officers’ association demanded a high-level probe body investigate as to why the ship was sent to a war zone risking the lives of the sailors.

Recurrence of such incident cannot be averted if punitive action is not taken upon investigation, the organisation said.

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

It is questionable to send a ship to an area being designated as a war zone, the organization said.

The merchant marine officers association also alleged that the authorities failed to evacuate the sailors to a safer place promptly after the ship was stranded.

The organisation’s president Mahbubur Rahman mentioned various initiatives taken by them to take the stranded sailors to a safer place.

The speakers at the press conference urged the government to bring back the sailors to Bangladesh immediately and confer state honour to the deceased sailor Hadisur Rahman.

They also urged the authorities to extend state honour to the sailors of the ship for their bravery to save the ship after the attack.

The organisation’s vice president Md Mahbubur Rahman and joint secretary general Iftekhar Ahmed, among others, were present during the press conference.