Bhubaneshwar: A Mongolian ship transporting
iron ore to China on Wednesday sank off Paradip port tonight killing
one of the 27 crew members while the others were rescued.
Alexander Liosiko, 45, the Chief Engineer of the ship
`Black Rose` drowned as he tried till the last to save the
vessel from going down in the Bay of Bengal.
Captain Servey Kamarov and 25 other crew members were
rescued by the Coast Guard while they were floating in the sea
wearing life jackets.
The ship, owned by a person in Mongolia and registered in
Ulan Bator, had come to Paradip in August but got permission
for loading only today.
Port sources said the Sea Trans Private Limited was the
agency which was sending iron ore from Orissa to China.
According to Protection and Indemnity surveyor Captain G
Mantri, the ship was loaded with iron ore files having excess
moisture content.
When the captain of the ship objected to loading of raw
materials having excess moisture content, his complaint was
not taken into consideration by Sea Trans Private Limited,
sources said.
According to UN guidelines, the cargo being transported
in ships must have transportable moisture limits.
After loading of about 24,000 metric tonnes of iron ore
files, the ship tilted to the right and finally sank when
7,000 tonnes more were left to be loaded.
Investigations found the vessel had developed a hole.
Another ship named `Voracious Sky` was also loaded by the
same transporting agency with materials of high moisture
content yesterday, sources said.
In 2007, a ship narrowly escaped sinking due to having
loaded materials having high moisture content.
Bureau Report
