According to the Kolkata Port Trust authorities, a key component of the steering wheel of the barge snapped as the vessel neared Nurpur.
“The ship could not be steered. It hit a sand bed in the Hooghly and tilted to one side,” said a port official. The ship remained tilted precariously till reports last came in. The crew was immediately rescued and there were no casualty. “The cargo did not spill into the river. Hence there is no threat of pollution,” he added. The incident has not hampered the flow of traffic, said the official.
Today’s incident occurred very close to the spot where a ship rammed into a jetty on March 22 this year.
Port officials admitted that the waters at Nurpur are choppy. “It is the confluence of two rivers, Rupnarayan and the Hooghly. This makes navigation of ships a little difficult,” said a port official. There are also some sand beds which have reduced the width of the river.
A sharp bend at Nurpur is also tricky for ships, he added.
The port authorities, however, claimed that they have nothing to do with the rescue of the barge. “Vessels plying between India and Bangladesh fall under the Indo-Bangla protocol. The rescue will be carried out by the Inland Waterways Authority,” said an official.