A lighterage vessel carrying 1,700 tonnes of wheat sank on Thursday in Bhasanchar area. Twelve crew members of the vessel have been rescued while one was missing till the evening.
The members of the Bangladesh Navy and the Coast Guard continued searching for the missing crew till Thursday evening, concerned sources said.
Deputy Director of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Md Selim said the vessel -- MV Khajababa Faridpuri -- got stranded in the Bhasan Char area, about one nautical mile away from the buoy number one as the area has low depth.
The vessel was carrying 1700 tonnes of wheat lightered from a mother vessel at the outer anchorage of the Chittagong Port.
The vessel was taking the cargo to Narayanganj but got stuck up in the area at around 11.30 am.
The BIWTA official said the cargo vessels needed to cross the area three hours after start of the high tide in the sea. The high tide started at 10.00 am but the vessel was crossing the area after one and a half hours, and met the accident.
The vessel was stranded when the water level was low but it sank when the water rose.
There were 13 crew members aboard the vessel. 12 of them were rescued but one was missing, he said.
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