At least 30 lighter vessels ran aground in different areas on Patenga seashore during Cyclone Midhili last Friday. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.

Most of the vessels washed ashore after being caught in the high tides and heavy winds, as their masters failed to estimate the cyclone's impact and did not shift those toward safer locations.

More than 400 empty vessels opted to stay near the Charpara coast, where those usually remain anchored before going to Chattogram Port's outer anchorage for loading and unloading cargo.

More than 400 empty vessels opted to stay near the Charpara coast, where those usually remain anchored before going to Chattogram Port's outer anchorage for loading and unloading cargo.

Workers later managed to steer around 20 of the affected vessels back in the waters during high tides by Sunday, while at least 10 partly damaged vessels were still stuck at the sandy beach till the filing of this report on Monday afternoon.

The MV Rasheda Akter was the most affected one and needed towing down after it got stuck at a high level of the stone embankment and could not be steered back into the water so far during high tide.

Visiting the coast on Monday, the vessel's master Mokhlesur Rahman was seen supervising workers trying to drag its anchor toward the sea.

The sea wasn't too rough early on Friday, and most of the vessels' masters, including him, thought the cyclone's impact wouldn't be significant as the weather forecast stated the storm would cross through Mongla and Payra regions, said Mokhlesur.

However, the weather became rough after Friday noon, and our vessel was washed into the stony embankment around 2:30pm, he added.

Bangladesh Lighter Vessel Workers Union vice president Nabi Alam said after cautionary signal-6 was announced around 9:00am on Friday, Chittagong Port Authority started shifting ocean-bound vessels from jetties to deeper sea and lighter vessels to inner harbour towards the upstream of Karnaphuli river.

They also stopped allowing entry of small vessels or boats to the port channel from the sea, leaving the vessels outside the channel with no option other than remaining near Patenga shore.

The vessels should have been shifted to safer areas immediately after cautionary signal-3 was announced a day earlier, said a senior CPA official.