Barge with 12 boxes onboard sinks near Chittagong port

CHITTAGONG : A barge having 12 TEUs of loaded containers onboard sunk near Chittagong port in Bangladesh on Thursday (28 September) night.

The port authority, in a notice issued to mariners on Friday morning, asked the vessels to navigate with caution while sailing in the area. It said the barge namely Termanator capsized with 12 loaded containers at the abreast canal of Karnafully Channel and its sunken position is dangerous for surface navigation.

Details of the barge position and the current conditions of the boxes could not be known by the port officials despite several attempts.

Meanwhile, the ports in Bangladesh have been advised to hoist local cautionary signal 3 as a low pressure area has formed over the northeast bay and adjoining area.

It is important to note that the boxship Pangaon Express, which sunk on 6 July with 96 TEUs of containers onboard, could not be salvaged until now, which caused importers a million-dollar loss.

After a few days from the accident, some 22 containers were washed away. During the last couple of weeks, the salvage company recovered 23 boxes by using a crane. However, importers say they are not sure when the rest 32 containers can be recovered. They also noted that after opening the recovered boxes they found most of the cargo inside unusable thus they incurred huge financial losses.