17 Chinese sailors stuck in ship for 3 days in Sitakunda

Seventeen Chinese sailors remained stuck for three days in a ship docked at Sitakunda coast for scrapping.

The 9,000-mt Uni Harvest cargo ship of Japan sailed from China's Weifang Port for Chattogram on January 20, said Milton Ray, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Sitakunda.

"The shipyard authorities had failed to report about the sailors before the ship was docked," he added.

The ship was brought to the shipyard, owned by Md Abdullah and Haji Liakot Ali of Sonaimuri union on Saturday evening, for scrapping.

No-one of the sailors was allowed to leave the ship due to Coronavirus outbreak concern.

The owner of the agency that imported the ship claimed the 17 Chinese sailors are not infected with coronavirus.

"The ship was beached at Lalbeg in Sonaimuri to be scrapped as per rules," said Haji Liakot Ali.

Mentioning that the Chinese sailors will be sent back directly to China once their air tickets are confirmed, he said sailors from other countries left the ship after it had been beached.

The coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, has killed at least 908 people.  On Monday, China's health ministry said another 3,062 cases had been reported over the previous 24 hours, raising the Chinese mainland's total to 40,171.

More than Coronavirus 440 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China, including two deaths in Hong Kong and the Philippines, reports AP.

The fatality toll has passed the 774 people believed to have died in the 2002-03 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, another viral outbreak that originated in China. The total of 40,171 cases on the mainland vastly exceeds the 8,098 sickened by SARS.