Samples collected from tank of accident hit vessel
Collected Photo
A specialist team inspected the ballast tank area of the MT Rasi where workers died after being exposed to toxic gas. The team collected samples of soil, air and chemicals from the site on Tuesday. However, no hydrogen sulfide was found there at present.
Preliminary observations suggest that a small section of the ballast tank was being cut last Friday. Toxic gas escaped through the cut section, exposing the workers. Nine workers died and at least 10 others were injured.
The specialized team, led by Professor Yasir Arafat Khan of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, BUET, includes members of several private technical organizations. The team first boarded the vessel on Monday. However, they did not enter the tank from where the gas had spread that day. Today, wearing high level protective equipment, they went near the tank and conducted tests and examinations.
However, no hydrogen sulfide was found in the samples, it is learned. It is believed that four days after the incident, the gas may have dispersed into the tidal water or air. There are two more ballast tanks on the vessel. The specialized committee will examine whether toxic gas or hydrogen sulfide is present in those two tanks.
When asked, Professor Yasir Arafat Khan, head of the expert team and a professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering at BUET, told Agamir Somoy, “We went to the tank from where the accident originated. We collected samples. The presence of gas at the site is no longer the same as it was on the day of the incident. Even so, we collected samples and sent them to the laboratory. Samples have also been collected from the other tanks. As the matter is under investigation, nothing more can be said about it.”
Meanwhile, no one has filed a case with Sitakunda Police Station even four days after the incident. Police filed an unnatural death case on Saturday. They conducted an autopsy on one of the nine bodies.
Sitakunda Police Station Officer in Charge, OC, Mohinul Islam said no one had come to file a case. He said police would accept a case if someone came to file one. Otherwise, action can be taken based on the investigation report.
In response to a question, the OC said, “We were informed about the incident two hours after it occurred. They did not realize that it would turn into such a major incident. They informed us after failing to manage the situation.”
Following the accident, the Ministry of Industries, the district administration and the ship owners’ organization BSBRB formed three separate investigation committees. In addition, on Sunday, the Ministry of Industries formed a specialized technical committee headed by BUET Professor Yasir Arafat Khan.
