Sunken Ship Crew Stranded In Paradip

Crew members of the Mongolian ship, Black Rose, that sank near Paradip port on September 9, are yet to get permission to leave the country. The 26 crew members are stranded in the port town and are still waiting for permission from Director General of Shipping in Mumbai. "Although, Paradip Port Trust has given them permission to leave the town, they cannot leave the country, without the permit from Mumbai," said Anupam Parija, director of Sea Trans, the agent of the sunken ship. Parija filed an FIR with the marine police station on September 10. Following that the marine police sought help of many expert committees and organizations, including Director General of Shipping, the chairman of National shipping Board, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) to investigate into the disaster. "PPT has informed us that the ship was not insured and that the ship's captain had produced fake papers to gain entry into the port. PPT has given permission to all the crew members, including the captain, to leave the country," marine police (Paradip) OC T Patel said. "Seventeen members are from Bangladesh, while six crew members are Ukrainian citizens.MV Black Rose in the Bay of BengalThe three remaining ones are from Russia. If, during the investigation, any one is found guilty, we will take action against them. We will file petitions before the authority to extradite the guilty from their countries, even after the end of the investigation," Patel added. "The plugging work to check oil spill from the sunken Mongolian ship has also been delayed due to bad weather over the Bay of Bengal," Deputy Chairman of Paradip port Biplav Kumar said. "Port authority had entrusted Visakapatnam-based J Enterprisers and Dives to check the oil spill. Eight members of the company arrived at Paradip on Sunday, to begin work in the sea. But work has been delayed for five days due to torrential rain and rough sea," Kumar added. Black Rose was registered with the UK South of England P&I Club. However, its license expired on April 2009 and the owner decided not to renew it, as they said they were sending the ship for scrapping. The company then used the certificate of another ship, registered with the Toros Pearl, and cannibalized it fraudulently to insure the Black Rose.