Two Bangladeshi barge ferrying fly ash sink in Hooghly

Two Bangladeshi barge ferrying fly ash to the neighbouring country capsized in the Hooghly river near Kulpi in South 24-Parganas district on Thursday.

All the crew members of the two barge were rescued, officials said.

This is the second such incident in a month. A barge laden with fly ash sank in the Hooghly river on March 12 while going to Bangladesh.

The Kolkata Port Trust said both the barges are out of the navigation channel for its own operation.

MV Tofa Tarif-4 sanked at C Tangrar Char between Kulpi and Nischindipur about 8.30 am.

All the eight crew members of Tofa Tarif were rescued and quarantined, Santosh Kumar Mondal, Additional Superintendent of Police, Sundarban police district, said.

He said the vessel was returning to Bangladesh after loading fly ash at Kolaghat in East Midnapore district on Wednesday night when it was caught in a storm.

"The crew members said they anchored the barge at a spot but another vessel collided with it and the anchor was snapped. Water also started gushing in and the ship started drifting," Mondal said.

Early on Thursday, they noticed that the ship was stuck near the Tangrar "char" (sandbar) and took a boat to reach the sandbar, the police officer said.

"The barge sank during high tide," Mondal said.

Another vessel, MV Dhruv Rupanti, sank near the Kakdwip tower as it could not manoeuvre the high tide because its engine got locked and submerged at around 4.30 am.

All the 10 crew members of the vessel were rescued, police said.