News Desk :
The 28 crew members of Bangladeshi ship “Banglar Samriddhi”, who were stranded in war-ravaged Ukraine, seheduled to leave for Bangladesh from Romania’s capital Bucharest by a special flight on Tuesday evening.
“Hopefully, they will reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Wednesday morning,” said Captain Md Mujibur Rahman, Deputy General Manager (planning) of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), reports UNB.
“The body of the ship’s third engineer Hadisur Rahman, who was killed during a rocket attack on the ship, has been preserved in a bunker near Ukraine and it will be brought back home at a convenient time,” said the BSC Deputy GM.
Meanwhile, general secretary of Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers’ Association (BMMOA) Md Shakwat Hossain said, “As situation in Ukraine is worsening the procedure to bring back Hadisur’s body is being delayed. The procedure to bring back his body home will begin within five to seven days depending on the situation there.”
On March 6, the crew members safely reached Romania from Ukraine and have been staying in a hotel in Bucharest .
The BSC ship got stranded in Ukraine as Russian invasion started soon after it anchored at Olvia port on February 23.
The seafarers of Banglar Samriddhi, the Bangladeshi ship damaged in a deadly shelling amid the Ukraine-Russia war, are likely to leave Romania for home on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to repatriate 28 of them together, but haven’t received all the air tickets yet,” said M Daud Ali, Bangladesh ambassador to Romania. “It is quite difficult to arrange so many air tickets under the circumstances, but we’re trying our best to ensure they start on Tuesday.
“Three days after they were rescued from the ship, the crew members crossed the Moldova border into Romania and stayed in a hotel in Bucharest, reports bdnews24.com.
The authorities have booked their tickets on a Turkish Airlines flight and will finalise the trip after the tickets are confirmed, the ambassador said.
BSC Director General Captain Mujibur Rahman said the crew members will leave Bucharest at 10 pm local time and reach Dhaka at 1 pm local time on Wednesday.
The bulk carrier had arrived in Ukraine on Feb 22. Russia launched full-fledged assaults on Ukraine on Feb 24.
A missile struck the vessel, owned by Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, on Mar 2, killing one of the crew members on board.
Following the attack that killed their colleague, the remaining sailors and engineers left the vessel, declaring it abandoned.
