Staff Correspondent: A coal loaden cargo carrying at least 1,000 tons coal sank off Sundarban coast on Friday morning. The vessel �MV Aijgati� sank in the Passur River mouth�s Mongla Fairway Buoy area, just 12 kilometers south of Sundarban forest reserve.
A crack developed at the bottom of the vessel that caused the accident at 7:30 am and 16 people on board were rescued from incident. Earlier the vessel left the Mongla port and was heading towards Nawapara in Jessore, the port officials said.
Naval accidents and spill of coal, oil and other chemicals in the Sundarban mangrove region are drawing global attention in the recent years.
Months before, another vessel carrying 510 tons of coal sank in the Passur river in the Sundarbans on October 27, 2015. This accident was preceded by the devastating one in Sundarban history know as 'Shela Oil Spill' in December 2014 which spread over 359 square kilometers of forest, intersected by several rivers and tributaries.