Five crew members of MV Hope landed at Jetty no. 15 of the Chittagong Port at 11 am on Monday. They are fourth engineer of the vessel Abdul Hakim, deck cadet Mukhlesur Rahman, seamen Rubel, Osman and Saiful Islam. The crew members started crying at seeing their homeland once again. “We’ve returned alive from death’s own region. We can’t believe that we’re still alive. Almighty Allah has saved us,” said Mukhlesur Rahman.
“The captain of MV Hope, Rajib Chandra Karmakar, tried to save the ship at any cost. But when he realised that the ship was sinking, he directed us to jump into the water. He gave us life-jackets and he threw a life-raft to the water for saving us. But he, himself, didn’t desert the ship,” he added.
“As per the directive of our captain, 12 of us jumped into the water. Unfortunately, all of us could not board the raft. We kept floating by the life-raft. The life-raft suddenly turned turtle due to high tide and rough weather. We got detached from each other,” he recalled.
“At that time, we called the crew of Bux Moon for help. They rescued some of us, while others went lost in the high tide,” he said.
Earlier, the owner and agent of MV Hope weaved a net of mystery over the arrival of the five seamen. They were scheduled to face reporters at a local hotel. But, for reasons best known to them, the owner and agent of the sunken ship took the crew members to a clinic for treatment.
Jashim Uddin Patwari, deputy director of the maritime department, told reporters that the department did not know anything about the arrival of the seamen in Chittagong. “The owners and agent of the ship did not inform us anything in this regard till today,” he added.
More than 50 reporters were waiting at Hotel Saint Martin as the representatives of the ship owner, Capt. Mohammed Ali and Capt. Mohiuddin Abdul Quadir, had told them to wait there. The representatives tried to mislead the reporters by telling different times to different. Later, they took the seamen to a clinic and resisted the entrance of journalists without any apparent reason.
Capt. Mohammed Ali said, “We can’t tell when we’ll be able to produce them before the journalists. The seamen are severely ill. They have been admitted to National Hospital.”
Capt. Mohiuddin Abdul Quadir said, “The five seamen have been admitted to a hospital. Other crew members, who were rescued from the sea, are undergoing treatment in Thailand. They are likely to reach Chittagong after five to six days.” But, the relatives of the missing seamen alleged that the owners of the ship and agent had been trying to cast an aura of mustery to misappropriate insurance money.
Mohammed Jobaier, the brother of seamen Mohammed Osman, said, “We went through a terrible phase during the last few days.We’re thanking Allah for bringing Osman back to us.”
On the other hand, Sima Das, the younger sister of Capt. Rajib Chandra Karmakar, could not restrain her tears.“We don’t know any news of my brother. We want to know whether he is still alive or dead. Rajib’s son is studying at a private university in Dhaka, his daughter is still in school. How will live without their father? Our the 83-year-old mother would not be able to bear the news.”
Khaleda Akter, sister of chief officer Md Mahabub Morshed, said, “We can’t believe that our brother was killed in the accident. Before sailing, my brother told us that the ship needed renovation. The owners of the sunken ship did not take necessary steps for rescuing the seamen.” A Thailand navy team rescued nine crew members of the sunken MV Hope. Two deadbodies were also recovered. The rescued seamen are Md Abdul Hakim, Moklesur Rahman, Abu Bakkar Siddique, Mohammed Rubel, Saiful Islam and Mohammed Osman, Mobarak Hossain, Md Faijur Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahman. The two victims are chief officer Md Mahabub Morshed and chief engineer Kaji Saifuddin.
The still missing crew members are Capt. Rajib Chandra Karmokar, second engineer Md Nejam Uddin, electrician Sadim Ali, crew members Nasir Uddin, Ali Hossain and cook Mohammed Nasir Uddin.
-With The Independent input
