Shipping corp stops oil transport with MT Bangla's Jyoti, Shourabh
Oil discharge from fire-damaged vessel completed
The Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has decided to stop using both the 37-year-old MT Bangla's Jyoti and another vessel MT Bangla's Shourabh for oil transportation.
Instead, the BSC will rely on chartered vessels to transport BPC's crude oil until new ships are purchased.
BSC Managing Director Commodore Mahmudul Malek told The Business Standard, "The issue of not transporting oil using the MT Bangla's Jyoti and MT Bangla's Sourav vessels is actively under consideration by the BSC. It is in the process of acquiring a new vessel, and in the interim, chartered ships will handle the crude oil transport."
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Besides, the discharge of oil from the fire-damaged BSC vessel MT Bangla's Jyoti has been completed.
The vessel, which had an explosion and fire at Chattogram port, had its crude oil offloaded at the Eastern Refinery by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) on Thursday (3 October) morning.
The Jyoti was carrying 10,916.846 metric tonnes of crude oil. After inspection and clearance from the Department of Explosives, the oil discharge began yesterday morning and concluded early Thursday.
The explosion occurred on Monday (30 September) at 10:54am, when crude oil was being discharged.
The fire was triggered by an accumulation of flammable gas in the vessel's four peak stores.
The incident resulted in the deaths of Deck Cadet Saurabh Kumar Saha, BSC Foreman Nurul Islam, and worker M Harun.
According to BPC, the mother vessel 'Omera Legacy,' carrying approximately 98,383 metric tonnes of Marban crude oil from Abu Dhabi, arrived at the Qutubdia outer anchorage on 17 September.
Discharge operations began on Monday (30 September) morning , but around 800 metric tonnes of crude oil had been discharged when the fire broke out in the four peak stores of the Jyoti.
Following the accident, BPC formed a seven-member investigation committee, chaired by Eastern Refinery Limited's Managing Director Engineer Md Sharif Hasnat. The committee submitted its report on the same day, concluding that the fire was caused by an excessive buildup of flammable gas in the Jyoti's four peak stores.
The report highlighted the risks associated with oil lightering operations using BSC's vessels, MT Bangla's Jyoti and MT Bangla's Sourav.
In addition, the BSC formed two separate committees to investigate the accident, manage the burial of the victims, and address compensation issues.
