300 stranded on St Martin's Island as ship movement halted with mainland
Earlier on Tuesday Morning, nearly 1,000 tourists headed to the island on tourist ships – Keari Sindbad, Baro Auliya, and the Atlantic
Due to the hostile weather conditions caused by Cyclone Michuang, tourist ships on the Teknaf-Saint Martin's Island route were suspended on Wednesday morning (6 December), leaving around 300 tourists stranded on Saint Martin's Island.
Earlier on Tuesday Morning, nearly 1,000 tourists headed to the island on tourist ships – Keari Sindbad, Baro Auliya, and the Atlantic.
Later that day, 700 tourists had left the island by afternoon, while the remaining 300 stayed overnight.
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"The ocean is turbulent due to the Cyclone Michuang in the Bay of Bengal. Met office have issued cautionary signal 3 at the seaports. So, starting Wednesday morning, all tourist ships or boats going between Teknaf and Saint Martin's Island are suspended," said Jahir Uddin Bhuiyan, traffic supervisor of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) in Teknaf.
"Some tourists who already reached the island need to spend the night there. Once the weather gets back to normal, we will bring them back to Teknaf," he added.
Md Adnan Chowdhury, Teknaf upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), said they are monitoring the situation.
Shah Alam, the manager of the tourist vessel Keari Sindabad, said the movement of ships usually remains halted for two days in these situations.
"We will get the tourists back once we resume our operations," he added.
As per the meteorological report, Cyclone Michuang currently resides in the western-central Bay of Bengal, having crossed over to India's coastal region of Andhra Pradesh.
The cyclone is expected to gradually weaken while inducing further rainfall internally.
Its impact is creating intense cloud formations along the coastal regions of the northern Bay of Bengal and adjacent areas in Bangladesh.
Ports like Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Mongla, and Payra have been advised to upgrade their cautionary signal from 2 to 3.
According to the Deccan Herald, seventeen people died on Tuesday as several colonies remained underwater due to heavy rainfall in India.
