The snap shows black patches of furnace oil on the surface of water in a river in the Sundarbans on Wednesday because of huge spills after a collision between two tankers on Tuesday. Many fish have also died as a result. banglar chokh Oil from the ship which capsized in the river at the Sundarbans has spread all around. In the meantime high and low tides have taken place thrice. With that oil on water appears thick like tar. That oil has entered the forest due to force of the tide. At places dead fish have been seen in the water of the river. Because of the oil spill people are also plunged in danger along with the bio-diversity of the forest. Due to mixture of oil in sweet water of Shela river local people are unable to use that in any work. Although a full day has passed off after the accident, no salvage operation has begun yet. A rescue ship has started from Chittagong for the Sundarbans on Wednesday. By noon today (Thursday) it may reach the place of accident. Two rescue ships of BIWTA have also started going to the Sundarbans. ‘Nirvic’ has set off from Barisal and ‘Portya’ from Narayanganj. But nobody can say when will they reach the destination. Naval rescue ships ‘Aktaruddin’ and ‘Shah Paran’ also have left for the place of accident. Two committees have been formed to investigat the incident of ship capsize with oiltanker. Forest division and sea transport department have formed the committees separately. But there was no trace of Moklesur Rahman, master of the sunken ship, till noon yesterday. The divers of navy are searching for him. Forest division has filed a Tk 100 crore compensation suit with Mongla thana over the incident of spread of oil. The case has been filed by Abul Kalam Azad, Chadpai station officer of forest division. In the case the owner of MT Total which hit the sunken ship OT Southern Star-7 has been made an accused. MT Total has been detained at Bhola yesterday. OT Southern Star-7 sank in Shela river in the Mrigmari area of East Sundarbans. It capsized being hit by another cargo ship coming from the opposite side in dense fog of early morning. The ship was carrying 3 lakh 5.7 thousand 664 litre furness oil. All the oil spilled into the river due to the accident. The tanker was carrying oil from Padma oil depot of Khulna for a power plant in Gopalganj. Even yesterday, the tanker’s fore part remained sunk keeping the backside afloat. Gias Uddin, manager of oil tanker’s owning company MS Harun & Co, said two rescue ships were hired. The divers already tied rope with the capsized tanker. After bringing a barge, we will try to pull it out from the water. A canal adjacent to the Sundarbans came to the notice of the reporters yesterday after arrival at Joymonir Ghol, the last habitation at Chila Union under Mongla Upazila. Tidal wave started to hit spreading black oil. The mud on the river bank took a black hue. If anybody moves forward, he/she will be able see a long straight margin of black oil sketched on the trees. If anybody advances a little more, Chandpai forest office will be seen. He will be able to see a black margin drawn by making if he goes to the accident spot floating on Shela river by a trawler. The black spot of the roots of the mangroves trees and other floating sapling will be seen. Ship company supervisor Oaliullah said they are trying to rescue the ship. He doubted that all oil was spilled out. A Navy ship was seen in the spot. Besides, officials of forestry department, Mongla port and BIWTA were present there. BIWTA deputy director Md Ashraf Hossain said their two rescue ships Nirvik and Prottoy left Barisal and Narayangaj for the accident place. But he could not assure of the time of their arrival. Replying to a query, Sundarbans east forest zone officer Amir Hossain said the spilled out oil reached Pashur river crossing Shela river. The oil spread towards the deep of the forest through various canals connected with Shela river. The oil moved towards 20 kilometer long area on the east and west of Shela covering one kilometer on either banks. In a ward, oil spilled towards 50-60 kilometer area. Md Farukul Islam, Chief Hydrographer of Mongla Port Authority said, “The area is under our channel. To the best of our knowledge, this river is not deep. It is possible to rescue the sunken ship, but we have no rescue operation ship. Commodore Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Chairman of MPA said, though Shela River is not our channel but the Sundarbans is ours. For this reason, we are ready to help if necessary. He talked to Naval Force, BIWTA in this regard. While we were returning after staying for 2 hours from the spot by a trawler, it was found that the river was full to brim of upstream water. We talked to Abul Kalam Azad, station officer and forester Md Tauhidur Rahman at Chandpai Station. Showing a floating boat they said, floating oil has been gathered in the boat using current net. Expressing disappointment, he said, if we had enough manpower we could collect more oil these way. Officials of Forest Department said, oil has spread to Andarmanik, Nandabala, Joymoni and Harintana areas from Shela River. Oils is also floating in the Rupsha River, they added. Environment and Forest Minister Abdullah Al Islam Jakob, acting Secretary of the ministry Khandker Rakibur Rahman and Chief Conservator of Forest Younus Ali visited the spot on Wednesday evening. Asif Siddique, Staff Correspondent of Chittagong office informed that yesterday noon Kandary-10, a rescue ship from Chittagong port started journey for bringing control of polluted oil in the Shela River. Port sources said, the Kandari-10 vessel is expert to control pollution and rescue work. This ship carries 10,000 litres chemical which is very helpful to control pollution of oil. Pollution of 100 kilometre areas can be controlled through 1 litre chemical. Commodore M Shahjahan, Member (Harbour and Marine) of CPA said, Kandari-10 ship will reach the destination by spreading chemical around 10 metre areas which will help to reduce the oil pollution. It is possible to control 500 to 600 tonnes polluted oil through the chemical. In the same way the ship will help rescue operation. Apart from BIWTA’s salvage ships ‘Prottoy’ and ‘Nirvik’, NAVY’s ‘Shah Paran’ from Mongla base and ‘Akhteruddin’ from Hiron Point started for the incident spot. There were a total of 10 divers with ‘Shah Paran’. Department of Shipping’s Sea Transport section has formed a committee comprising three members after this incident. Nautical Surveyor and Examiner Captain Giasuddin was made the convenor of the committee. Talking to the journalists, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said this on Wednesday at secretariat. The two other members are executive magistrate of the department Goulm Mainuddin Hasan and Khulna Zone Ship inspector Md Abu Zafar Miah. The committee will recommend on various issues including the reason of the accident, the amount of loss, identification of the responsible persons and preventions steps to avoid such accident in the future. The committee has been asked to submit the report within 15 days. Shipping Minister said the vessel (cargo tanker) has been identified by which caused the accident. Action will be taken against the owner and other concerned persons. Three salvage ships have been sent for salvaging the sunken oil tanker. The salvage operation is being hampered due to dense fog. In addition, another committee was formed headed by Sundarbans East Division’s Chadpai Range forester Belayet Hossain. The two other officers are: Chadpai station officer Abul Kalam Azad and Dhangmari station officer Prohlad Chandra.
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