Bangladeshi ship with 29 sailors stranded in Ukraine seaport

A Bangladesh Shipping Corporation ship – Banglar Samriddhi – with 29 sailors on board has been stranded in the Olvia port of Ukraine since Russia invaded the Eastern European country.

Confirming the matter, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Managing Director Sumon Mahmud Sabbir told The Business Standard that the ship had been at the Olvia port since before the war started. The chartering department of the shipping corporation is working on how it can be brought to a safe place.

The Marine Traffic website, which monitors the movement of ships around the world, showed the location of the bulk carrier Banglar Samriddhi near the port of Olvia in the Black Sea at 3am Bangladesh time on Sunday.

Omar Farooq Tuhin, a sailor onboard the ship, said all operations at Olvia had been suspended since the start of the war. The sailors are in a panic. The ship has a food stock of 13-14 days, and it is not possible to take the ship anywhere because of the presence of the Russian army in the sea.

He added that there was no attack in the area where the ship was, but explosions could be heard intermittently from a distance.

The stranded sailors called on the Bangladesh government to take necessary steps to rescue them quickly.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury was contacted regarding the issue but he did not comment.

According to Marine Traffic, Banglar Samriddhi arrived in Olvia on 21 February from the Turkish port of Eregli.

According to the BBC, about 1,500 Bangladeshis live in Ukraine, including businessmen and students. Since there is no Bangladeshi embassy in Ukraine, the Bangladeshi embassy in Warsaw, Poland has been keeping in touch with Bangladeshis in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Attempts are being made to bring Bangladeshis to Poland on transit visas and send them back to the country.

Captain Mujibur Rahman, deputy general manager (chartering and planning) at Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, told The Business Standard, "The ship carrying steel coils reached the Turkish port of Eregli on 14 February from India's Mumbai port. After unloading goods there, the empty ship arrived at Olvia port on 21 February. Clays, raw materials for manufacturing ceramics, were supposed to be loaded into it, but the ship was caught in the Russia-Ukraine war." 

The shipping corporation authorities instructed the ship to return quickly without loading the goods to avoid the war situation. But it could not leave the Black Sea region as all operations at the port of Olvia had been suspended since the start of the war, he added.