Eight dredger workers died last Monday night October 24th when dredger Saikat 2 sank in the sea due to cyclone Sitrang. The vessel was dredging the Sandweep channel and sending sand for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, an industrial park in Chittagong.
A total of 35 people died from the cyclone across Bangladesh.
There were nine workers on the dredger namely Saikat-2, which sank adjacent to jetty number 3 of the industrial park, but one of the workers was able to swim to shore.
In addition a Myanmar national died on Monday after falling from the ship due to the strong winds of the cyclone. The vessel was in Teknaf river port in Cox’s Bazar district in the south.
The cyclone seriously disrupted trade as seaports and river ports were forced to shut operations amid high danger alerts. Chittagong and Mongla ports kept containers handling suspended for nearly 24 hours, but were able to resume operations on October 25th after the cyclone passed.
Chittagong port alone saw a disruption of loading and unloading of at least 6,000 teus and delivery of at least 2,000 teus from its yards.
Meanwhile The Indian Coast Guard coordinated the rescue of 20 Bangladeshi fishermen on October 25th. They were sighted by an ICG Dornier aircraft on surveillance flight about 90nm from Sagar Island near the Indo-Bangladesh International Maritime Border Line. Their vessels had capsized during the cyclone. The survivors were clinging onto floats and debris from the sunken fishing boat. The aircraft dropped an life raft in the vicinity and remained in the area until the castaways embarked the life raft. Container ship Nanta Bhum (IMO 8813659) which was in the vicinity, en route from Port Klang to Kolkata, was diverted towards the position to pick up the fishermen. Two Indian Coast Guard ships were also diverted to the scene. The fishermen were subsequently handed over to one of these ships. They were checked by a medical officer and handed over to the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
1990-built, Thailand-flagged, 11,079 gt Nanta Bhum is owned by Regional Container Lines PCL of Bangkok, Thailand. It is managed by RCL Shipmanagement Pte Ltd of Singapore. It is entered with Swedish Club (Asia Team) on behalf of Regional Container Lines Public Co Ltd. As of October 29th the vessel was moored at Kolkata, India.