Crew member jumps into Hooghly, body found

Kolkata: The body of a crew member of a vessel destined to Singapore from Bangladesh was fished out from the river Hooghly by a joint team of the Port Marine Department divers and Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel on Friday afternoon, who had jumped into the water on Thursday night.

According to sources, the vessel, Kota Dunia, is a container vessel that started its journey from Chittagong in Bangladesh and reached the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata on Thursday night. At around 11 pm, when the vessel was stationed mid-stream, near the 7, Netaji Subhas Dock, a crew member suddenly jumped into the river Hooghly. Immediately, the captain alerted the Port Traffic Department, seeking urgent assistance.

After a while, two tugboats from the Port Marine Department carrying divers reached the area and began search operations in the surrounding waters. But till late at night, the crew member was not found.

Again, on Friday morning, search operations started, and after the day-long search, the body of the crew member was fished out of the water. Police informed that the crew member identified as Bandarawatte Vidanelage Prabashwara Tharindu Bandarawatte was a Sri Lankan national. After registering an unnatural death case at the West Port police station, the information of the crew member’s death was communicated to the concerned authorities through proper channels. So far, no foul play was detected. The other crew members of the vessel are being questioned.