Rough sea delays Pangaon Express’s rescue
Two months have passed, but the Pangaon-bound container vessel Pangaon Express that sank in the bay near Noakhali's Bhasanchar on July 6 with 72 import-laden containers is yet to be rescued.
Officials of the private firm that operates the ship and the rescue firm it engaged blamed persistent adverse weather and turbulent sea for the delay in rescuing the ship and its cargo.
Upon request from importers, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) last week sat in a meeting with the ship's operating and salvage firm to expedite the operation.
In the meeting, the salvage firm assured the CPA that they would start shifting the containers onboard from September 10, aiming to reduce the ship's weight.
However, officials of the salvage firm told The Daily Star that they needed one more week to start the job as the sea was still rough.
Around 70 per cent of the work of passing wire ropes beneath the ship is complete, which is required to steady it as part of salvage efforts, they said.
A relatively calm sea is needed to start shifting the onboard containers with the help of barge mounted cranes, officials added.
Fearing that at least 22 loaded containers might have washed away during this period, officials of the ship's operating firm said the 50 remaining containers carrying heavy items, including steel goods, which were stacked inside the hatch, were likely to still be on board.
They believed a portion of these steel goods could be recovered for use.
The Pangaon Express, owned by the CPA, was transporting 72 import-laden containers from the Chattogram port to Dhaka's Pangaon Inland Container Depot when it tilted to one side due to strong waves around 12 nautical miles off Bhasanchar on July 6 noon, causing three containers to fall into the sea.
As water started entering the vessel, crewmembers managed to navigate the ship around 4 to 5 nautical miles towards the coast.
However, it finally grounded and submerged near Bhasanchar coast.
The ship's private operating firm, Sea Glory Shipping Agency, earlier sought help from the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to engage its salvage ships Rustam and Hamza, but BIWTA said it could not rescue the ship due to logistical issues.
Salvage ships Rustam and Hamza are not fit to cross the bay, said Md Sabur Khan, joint director of BIWTA Chattogram.
Sea Glory initially engaged private salvage firm Motaleb Enterprise, but it also did not have the capacity to do the job.
Sea Glory Manager Mainul Hossain said they later approached two other firms, Glascow Exxon and Prantik Bengal Salvage and Diving.
Exxon demanded a huge amount of money while Prantik opted to wait until October for the sea to calm before initiating salvage operations.
Sea Glory finally signed a Tk 4 crore deal with private firm PS Salvage on July 18 to salvage the ship in 45 days.
Hossain claimed PS Salvage has prior experience of salvaging at least 17 lighter vessels from the same area.
He said the salvage operation faced obstacles and delays as there were cautionary signals every week for the last two months.
Five to six heavy wire ropes must be passed beneath the sunken ship with the help of divers in order to hold the ship, Hossain said. It will be possible to shift the onboard containers from the ship once it is steady, he said. The containers then need to be shifted to reduce the weight of the ship so that it can be towed to the shore.
Ashraful Alam, managing partner and representative of PS Salvage, said they had so far managed to pass five heavy wire ropes with the help of a winch barge.
Claiming to finish 70 percent of the salvage operation, Alam hoped to start lifting the containers within a week.
Informing that onboard containers could be shifted with barge-mounted crane, Alam said a calm sea and favourable weather were pre-requisites for the job. Otherwise, the barge carrying the crane may face a similar accident.
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