Eleven members of the crew of a Bangladeshi cargo ship called MV Hope went missing Thursday as the vessel sank into the Andaman Sea, officials said. The ship had 17 crew members on board while it went down into the sea. A passing ship and a navy helicopter of Thailand rescued six of them while 11 were still missing till filing this report at 9 pm. Fears were growing for the missing crew members as Captain Thammawut Marlaisukarin of Thai Navy told AFP they couldn’t find them after several trips by helicopters and an airplane in heavy rains and poor visibility.
Officials said the cargo ship ran into trouble early Thursday in rough waters some 32 kilometers off Phuket Island in south of Thailand. It was coming to Chittagong Port carrying ceramics from Malaysia.
The ship was loaded with 5,500 metric tons of ceramics. The 23-year-old vessel owned by BH Shipping Limited left Malaysia for Bangladesh on June 2.
As the ship was about to sink in rough weather, the captain sent SOS message which was received by the Rescue Coordination Centre in Australia. The Australian agency then redirected the message to Thailand Navy which immediately started the rescue operation for the missing crew. Captain Mohiuddin, the local agent of MV Hope said of the six rescued crew members, five were doing just fine while one sustained injury. The injured seaman whose condition was not critical was admitted at a local hospital in Thailand, he added.
“The five seamen are on their way to Bangladesh now,” Captain Mohiuddin said adding that they are maintaining close contact with the concerned authorities of Thailand navy and hoping that all crew members of the vessel will be rescued safely.
Meanwhile, the owner of the ship has assured of all possible measures to rescue all missing seamen and bring them back home.
-with The Independent input
