The Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has made an insurance claim worth $22.8million dollars for Banglar Samriddhi, the ship abandoned in Ukraine after a rocket attack.
The state-owned oceangoing ships management authority made the claim with the Sadharan Bima Corporation, reports The Business Standard.
"We have made the insurance claim following all international rules and regulations. The insurer will now complete necessary procedures and pay the claim," Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the state minister for shipping, who also serves as ex officio chairman of the BSC board told TBS.
The ship, which was chartered under an agreement with the Danish Charter Delta Corporation was hit by a rocket while anchored in Ukraine’s Alvia port channel on March 2.
The attack damaged the front of the ship, killing its third engineer Hadisur Rahman.
Following the attack, 28 crew members who were stranded were rescued to Romania and are expected to be back in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association said that the BSC was wrong to send the ship to Ukraine even after the Joint War Committee declared the place a war zone and called for the formation of a high-level committee to probe the matter.
On February 15, the London Joint War Committee declared the Black Sea a war-prone area with effect from February 23 . The ship had entered the port before the war zone was declared.
"The ship has been abandoned following all procedures properly. Now a search is underway to find watchmen to look after it, although it will be difficult to get anyone for this job given the war,” Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told TBS.
"Some people say it was not a right decision to send the ship amid the war but there was no mistake in sending the ship because there was no embargo on entering the port when the ship reached there. As it is a merchant ship, there was no scope to avoid the trip," he added.
In a statement published in the media, the BSC said that the ship was being chartered under an agreement with the Charter Delta Corporation of Denmark.
Banglar Samriddhi is one of the three bulk carriers BSC purchased along with three oil tankers on a Tk1,500 crore loan from China in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
The Tk208 crore ship joined the corporation fleet in 2018, and remains one of the six ships that contributed to 78% of BSC’s revenue in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
The bulk carrier departed the Mumbai port on January 26 and set sail for Ukraine on February 21 after unloading the cargo at a Turkish port.
It arrived at the outer anchorage of the Ukrainian port on February 22.
However, the ship, scheduled to sail for Italy was stuck owing to Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The missile attack destroyed the main control room (Navigation Bridge) of the ship and the main power supply system was also damaged.