Bound for safety
FROM PAGE 1
“Alhamdulillah! It is a new lease of life,” said GM Noor-e Alam, captain of the ship, heaving a sigh of relief.
“We are not out of danger yet. I have lost words to express gratitude to the Almighty. I still cannot believe we survived. We will feel that we are safe only when we will be able to cross the border.”
He said that all 28 sailors have safely reached the shelter and they were all still in mourning for the loss of Hadisur.
“It is really painful to carry our bother Hadisur’s body with us. We did not leave our brother in the ship,” said Alam.
Asked about the condition of the ship, Alam said, “It is damaged so badly that it would be tough to voyage in this condition.”
Alam, a father of two daughters and as many sons, said he could not talk to his family members for a long time as the ship’s generator was damaged in the attack.
Omar Faruk, chief engineer of the ship, said he was not in a mental state to talk.
“We are really tired and hungry. We are very happy that we reached safely in a shelter centre at last. Just pray for us so that we can return home safely. Just pray, nothing else brother,” he said in a weary tone.
Another sailor said they were evacuated around 20 hours after the attack.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told journalists last night that the ship has been abandoned.
“We received a letter from the shipping ministry approving the abandonment of the ship and we informed them [Ukraine authorities].”
Concerns over the stranded sailors’ safety gripped the country after Hadisur Rahman, who was serving as the third engineer of the vessel owned by the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), was killed.
The anxious family members of the sailors were critical over the authorities taking “no steps” to move the vessel from the Ukrainian port of Olvia to a safer zone in the last one week.
They had been urging the government to bring back their loved ones safely and quickly at any cost.
Several hours after the “missile” attack on the ship, family members thronged the head office of BSC in the port city yesterday morning to know the whereabouts of their loved ones.
On a day of panic and concern, some of the sailors who were stranded in the engine room until 1:00pm Bangladesh time yesterday, sent family members voice messages and asked the government to take steps for their immediate evacuation from the ship, fearing further attacks.
Roksana Khondokar, mother of one of the two female sailors, Deck Cadet Fariatul Jannat Tuli, told The Daily Star that her daughter, a final-year honours student of nautical department of Bangladesh Marine Academy, boarded the ship in March last year as part of her one-year internship.
“She was supposed to get off the ship after finishing the internship by the end of this month,” said the mother.
Roksana said her daughter told her in a voice message around 1:00pm yesterday that the sailors were panicking.
In weeping tones, Roksana urged the government for immediate rescue of all the sailors.
BSC Executive Director (Commercial) Pijush Dutta at a press briefing at the BSC conference room yesterday morning said their main concern and task now were to bring back the survivors as early as possible by ensuring proper security arrangements.
All authorities concerned including the shipping ministry, foreign ministry, DG shipping and others are now trying to accomplish this, he informed.
Talking to reporters, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said extensive diplomatic efforts were underway to rescue the sailors.
“Every effort is going on to shift them to a safer place,” he said while briefing reporters at the secretariat yesterday.
He also said bringing Hadisur’s body back to Bangladesh will depend on the situation in Ukraine, adding that the government will support Hasidur’s family in every possible way.
Family members of at least four sailors were found waiting at the BSC office to know the latest updates on their loved one’s evacuation from war-torn Ukraine.
Sixty-year-old Obaidul Hoque came from the city’s Kathgar area in the early morning as he could not sleep the whole night after getting a voice message at 3:00am from his son Masum Billa, one of the crew members of the ship.
“My son informed about the attack and asked us to pray for him,” the anxious father said, adding that he tried to contact his son several times but failed.
Masum’s family were able to talk to him while the ship was stranded in the port. Obaidul said everything was okay until the attack, but the sailors were in panic afterwards.
He requested the government to take immediate steps to bring back all the sailors unhurt.
Masum, third of his six children, joined the profession two years ago and boarded the vessel in January.
Abdullah Al Mamun, a service holder of Pally Biddut, came from Sitakunda to know the whereabouts of his brother-in-law Masudur Rahman, an electrical engineer on the ship.
Abdullah said Masudur’s elderly parents, who live in Bongaon village in Rajbari, became very worried after hearing about the death of their son’s fellow sailor.
Masudur’s elder brother Mofizur Rahman, who is now in Dhaka, told one of these correspondents over phone that his brother sent a text at 12:30pm yesterday informing that all the equipment needed for cooking was destroyed in the attack and the sailors had only biscuits to eat.
The anxious brother had also urged for immediate evacuation of the sailors from the ship since the ship has already been targeted once.
MOSCOW CONDOLES HADISUR
Russia yesterday expressed condolences to the family of Bangladeshi sailor Hadisur Rahman.
“We express deep condolences to the near and dear ones of the deceased,” said Russian Embassy in Dhaka in a statement on its verified Facebook page, adding that it will make every effort to ensure safe departure of the Bangladeshi ship from the port.
It also said it is establishing the circumstances around the killing of the Bangladeshi.
Banglar Samriddhi had reached the outer anchorage of Ukrainian port Olvia on February 23 to load ball clay.
But due to delay in getting port clearance, the ship failed to leave and was stranded as the port’s operations halted after the Russian invasion.