Quickly rescue us: Bangladeshi sailors’ message from Ukraine

‘We all want to get off the ship and go to the bunker. We are waiting. Arrange a tugboat for us. Will anyone come to pick us up? We are waiting.” This type of message is coming to Bangladesh from a ship after an engineer was killed in a Russian missile strike on a Bangladeshi-owned ship on 2 March in Ukraine.

Hadisur Rahman, the ship’s third engineer, was killed in a missile strike in the waters off the Ukrainian port of Alvia on Wednesday. Then the panic among the 28 sailors onboard the ship increased. Further, the sailors’ message said that the ship’s radio communication system has been destroyed in the attack. It is not possible to contact the port of Alvia due to this. “If you want to arrange to send a tugboat, you have to do it from outside.”

Another sailor told in FB Messenger, “We want to get off the ship. But BSC (Bangladesh Shipping Corporation) does not want to let us down. Our lives have no value.” Mofizul Islam also work in the ship as an electrical engineer, his brother Masudur Rahaman said. His brother had informed him on Thursday morning after the attack that the ship’s cooking equipment had been damaged in Wednesday’s attack. Now, they are eating dry food. If they are not rescued quickly, they will be in more danger.

Piyush Dutta, executive director (commercial) of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, said it is dangerous to take sailors out of ships without ensuring their safety. Sailors will be evacuated to ensure safety. All agencies, including the Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh Embassy in Poland and Department of Maritime Transport are working in this regard.

BSC officials said that if they want to go to the bunker, they have to first reach the port jetty by an auxiliary vessel. Then, they can go out of the port and go to the bunker. The safety of this path must be arranged first. Bangladeshi ship “MV Bangla Samriddhi” arrived at the Alvia port of Ukraine on 24 February. The ship left the port of Iragli in Turkey on 21 February for the port of Alvia in Ukraine. Two days later, Alvia anchored in the harbour. The ship was stranded when Russia attacked Ukraine early Thursday morning. After the Russian missle strike, the ship’s bridge was destroyed. Hadisur Rahman’s body was lying in the damaged ship.