One more survivor found after 36 hours

Three more crew members of Bangladeshi cargo vessel MV Hope have been rescued off the coast of Phuket on Friday.

Authorities have identified them as Engine Cadet Mushfiqur Rahman, Second Officer Mobarak Hossain, and Dock Cadet Rayek Fairuz.

Principal Officer Shafiqul Islam of Mercantile Marine Department confirmed the identities. The institution provides registration for sea-bound vessels.

MV Hope, the 97-metre 5,550-tonne cargo vessel, tilted to its side early on Thursday amid hostile weather in the Andaman Sea with 17 crew onboard. The crewmen had jumped onto a lifeboat into the sea.

Six of the crew were rescued on Thursday.

Thai web portal The Phuket News said German cargo vessel Buxmoon recovered two bodies which they handed over to the Royal Thai Navy. Authorities assume they were members of vessel’s missing crew.

The Navy rescued two more crew in the afternoon. Shafiqul Islam said Rahman was rescued on Friday noon, while Hossain and Fairuz were rescued in the afternoon.

Chittagong ship owners P&I Club representative Captain Mohiuddin Abdul Qader said the Thai authorities had confirmed one of those rescued was Engine Cadet Mushfiqur Rahman of Mymensingh.

“Of the two dead, one is Hope’s crew. But we are yet to know of his identity,” he added.

In the early morning light, the MV Hope lists heavily in stormy seas. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

Buxmoon had rescued five crew members alive on Thursday from one of the lifeboats of the Bangladeshi cargo ship. Another crew, Abu Bakar Siddique, 50, was pulled out of the sea and flown to Phuket. He is now undergoing treatment at a Phuket hospital.

Two Royal Thai Navy helicopters and a patrol plane had taken part in the rescue. Navy patrol boats were also circling the area, looking for the missing crew members.

Qader said the rescue efforts would continue until Sunday morning.

He said authorities were trying to recover the vessel.

The cargo vessel was returning to Chittagong port from Malaysia’s Lumut port with 6,545 tonnes of ball clay (used in ceramic industry) for Bangladesh’s Akiz Ceramic.

Trade Bridge Shipping owns the 23-year-old ship. Shama Quader Chowdhury, wife of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s brother, owns the company.

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