Four crew members go missing from Bangladeshi vessel in US

Bangladesh

TBS Report
30 November, 2023, 10:15 pm
Last modified: 30 November, 2023, 10:25 pm

Four crew members went missing from a Bangladeshi bulk carrier vessel in the Mississippi River of the United States on Monday, according to the US Coast Guard.

The US Coast Guard said it was notified of four people in the water at around 11pm local time on Monday and that four crew members had not arrived at the vessel, Meghna Adventure, for muster, a standard safety drill.

The US Coast Guard did not immediately disclose the crew members' names but described them as being of Bangladeshi nationality, aged 25, 29, 30 and 47.

The Coast Guard said it immediately began search operations and called off the search late Tuesday having searched around 495 square miles over 12 hours and not come across the missing men.

"At this time, the Coast Guard has suspended it search operations, pending any new information," Coast Guard Heartland posted on X late Tuesday. "The incident is currently under investigation."

"The decision to suspend a search is one that is taken with great care," a USCG spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

"The Coast Guard suspended active search efforts after the probable search area was saturated with multiple assets and resources. The search efforts also included multiple agencies conducting shoreline searches as well, however, we were unable to locate the missing individuals."

Meghna Passenger Going Fleet General Manager (Technical) Abu Taher told The Business Standard that the four sailors jumped off the Meghna Adventure vessel in the Mississippi River en route to the US port of New Orleans of Louisiana from Russia.

They are Md Ariful Islam of Natore, Mohammad Ibrahim of Chattogram, Md Sohanur of Kishoreganj and Abdul Quddus of Dinajpur, he said.

Government Shipping Office Shipping Master Md Zakir Hossain Chowdhury told TBS that if Meghna Group lodge a complaint with the office it will file a case in this regard.

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