A Bangladeshi ship, on which an incident of crane collapse had crushed two stevedoring staffers to death early this month, is under arrest at Karachi Port for the last couple of weeks after a court order. Winch number 4 of mv Bengalor Mamta, a Bangladeshi flag-carrier, had broken and fallen down on two foremen, Tayyab and Umer, performing their duty on the deck in the morning of April 2.
According to sources, Sindh High Court (SHC) had ordered the Harbour Master of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to hold the ship till resolution of the case. The heirs of Tayyab had filed a suit against the vessel in SHC and demanded compensation.
The bereaved family has claimed compensation of Rs 6 million against the ship, which is anchored at KPT mooring after discharging thousands of tons jute at berth number 21 of Karachi Port. Sources said that under legal obligation the ship could not sail out of Pakistani waters until a final ruling of the court came on the surface.
Ports and shipping experts, however, opine that the profit-conscious ship owner, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, is not likely to wait for the court verdict, which may go on indefinitely, and is likely to submit the "suit amount" in SHC as security and get the detained vessel released.
About the size of demanded compensation, they said that in case of a casualty the prevailing practice was to pay not more than Rs 0.3 million to the heirs of the deceased. According to experts, the concerned authorities should first establish the cause of death, like age of the ship etc, then an inquiry should determine whether the incident was willful. or just an accident.
However, the stevedores, who are eyewitness to the incident, claim that the vessel is old with most of its machinery, particularly the cranes, outdated. Soon after the accident an angry group of stevedoring staff had protested on the port demanding of the KPT authorities not to let the Bangladeshi ship leave.
Deadly accidents at local ports, where no proper safety measures are available to avoid casualties, are frequent mostly due to a slapdash attitude of the money-crazy ship owners, who happen to be less wary of getting their outdated vessels scrapped on due time. A KPT spokesman also confirmed arrest of the ship without providing details of the issue which, he said, was sub judice.