28 stranded Banglar Samriddhi crew to return home Wednesday

The Report Desk

Published: March 8, 2022, 02:38 PM

28 stranded Banglar Samriddhi crew to return home Wednesday

The 28 sailors of the Bangladeshi ship "Banglar Samriddhi", who got stuck in the Ukrainian port of Olvia amid war, will return to Bangladesh on Wednesday.

"A flight carrying them will take off from Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday night," Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers Association General Secretary Sakhawat Hossain told media.

However, he could not confirm when the flight will land.

"Process has also begun to bring back the body of engineer Hadisur," he added.

The 28 stranded sailors reached the Romanian capital of Bucharest safely from Ukraine on Sunday (6 March).

"They reached Romania at 4:15pm on Sunday, Bangladesh time. Arrangements have been made for them to stay at a local hotel," Daud Ali, Bangladeshi ambassador to Romania, said.

"The sailors were brought to Bucharest from the Moldova-Romania border on a bus hired by our embassy. All the sailors are in good health despite the long journey," he said.

On condition of anonymity, a sailor of MV Banglar Samriddhi told TBS on Facebook Messenger, "Our ship, with 29 sailors, was stranded in Olvia Port from 23 February. After eight days, the third engineer of the ship, Hadisur Rahman, was killed in a rocket attack on the ship last Wednesday evening. On Thursday, the ship was declared abandoned and 28 sailors were taken by tugboat to a bunker outside the port, with the help of Bangladeshis living in Ukraine."

Bangladeshi sailor Hadisur Rahman was killed on 2 March after the ship, Banglar Samriddhi, which had been stranded at the Olvia seaport due to war, came under missile attack in Ukraine.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Poland on Thursday (3 March) night evacuated the 28 crew members.

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