CALCUTTA, June 21: The local agent of the cargo ship M V Opal Green, which sank on Thursday morning in Hoogly River near Mayapore in South 24-Paragans, ruled out any sabotage.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Friday, an official of the Diamond Shipping Ltd, disclosed that the company was still carrying out investigation and at this stage it was difficult to say without any proof if it was a case of sabotage.

He blamed the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) saying that they however didn't rule out negligence on the part of port authorities which resulted in ship hitting the barge.

``We are not assured of any security by the port authorities against theft of the cargo lying deep in the river bottom,'' Arup Sinha of Diamond Shipping said, adding that the local police and the people were guarding their cargo.

The local agent also blamed the CPT for dishing out wrong information regarding the destination of the ill-fated-ship which was carrying a cargo of 7,000 tonne of finished iron manufactured by the TISCO.

The CPT ruled out sabotage and said that the accident occurred because of error in human judgement and ``our team of experts is probing into that aspect and when they complete their report we would come to know about real cause of the accident.''

The major problem haunting the CPT at the moment is the movement of ships through the route on which the ship sank .

The expert team investigating the mishap warned the CPT today that unless the destroyed ship was removed immediately, it would create problems for the movement for the ships along the route.

Ironically, the CPT officials had said on Thursday that they could not foresee any immediate problem for the movement of ships. However, according to official sources, the CPT authorities needed to requisition the service of the foreign experts to lift the ship.

On Thursday, the CPT had sought assistance of the experts of Singapore and Hong Kong Port authorities for salvaging the sunk M V Green Opal.

The owner of the vessel had also been contacted to take necessary steps to lift the wreck from the shipping channel to ensure movement of ships from Calcutta Dock System, CPT sources here said.

Meanwhile CPT Chairman H P Roy held a high-level meeting today to review the situation, particularly after restoration of ship movement from the Khidderpore Dock in a restricted way by passing the blocked channel.

The sources said three ships could be sailed out from the Calcutta Dock System earlier in the day after adopting utmost precaution. Two ships also left Budge Budge jetty after loading cargo.

Meanwhile, preparation is underway to send back about 20 members of the crew to their respective countries. On Friday, they were arrested and interrogated.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.