This Article is From Sep 10, 2009

Cargo ship sinks off Paradip port, 1 killed

Paradip: A Mongolian ship transporting iron ore to China on Wednesday sank off Paradip port killing one of the 27 crew members while the others were rescued.

Alexander Liosiko, 45, the Chief Engineer of the ship 'Black Rose' drowned as he tried till the last to save the vessel from going down in the Bay of Bengal.

Captain Servey Kamarov and 25 other crew members were rescued by the Coast Guard while they were floating in the sea wearing life jackets.

The ship, owned by a person in Mongolia and registered in Ulan Bator, had come to Paradip in August but got permission for loading only on Wednesday.

Port sources said the Sea Trans Private Limited was the agency which was sending iron ore from Orissa to China.

According to Protection and Indemnity surveyor Captain G Mantri, the ship was loaded with iron ore files having excess moisture content.

When the captain of the ship objected to loading of raw materials having excess moisture content, his complaint was not taken into consideration by Sea Trans Private Limited, sources said.

According to UN guidelines, the cargo being transported in ships must have transportable moisture limits.

After loading of about 24,000 metric tonnes of iron ore files, the ship tilted to the right and finally sank when 7,000 tonnes more were left to be loaded.

Investigations found the vessel had developed a hole.
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