Bangladesh reports sailor’s death in missile strike on Ukrainian port

Dhaka, Mar 3 (EFE).- Bangladeshi authorities on Thursday reported that a sailor from the country had been killed after a vessel flying the country’s flag and docked at a Ukrainian port had been hit by a missile during the ongoing Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

The missile hit the Bangladeshi vessel Banglar Samriddhi on Wednesday in the port of Olvia in the Black Sea, Mujibur Rahman, the general manager of the state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, told EFE

“A missile hit the navigation bridge of the ship. Our crew brought the ensuing fire under control. (But) the third engineer of the ship died. Others remained unhurt,” he said.

The ship has a 29-member all-Bangladeshi crew and has been stranded in the port since Feb. 24, when Russia launched the invasion. The vessel had arrived at the port a day earlier to receive a shipment of ceramic clay, the official added.

“When the war began, we had ordered the ship to leave the port. But fearful of naval mines and pilot shortage, the captain could not take the risk,” Rahman said.

On Sunday the Bangladeshi foreign ministry had reported that nearly 400 citizens of the South Asian nation had crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland, while 15 others had entered Hungary and three others had arrived in Romania to escape the war.

Dhaka has so far adopted an ambiguous stand towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with its statement urging “all parties” to exercise restrain, cease hostilities and resolve the crisis through diplomacy and dialog, without explicitly condemning Moscow’s actions.

Bangladesh’s neutral position was again evident on Wednesday in the United Nations General Assembly as it abstained from voting – along with 34 other countries – on the resolution against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, backed by 141 member states. Five members, including Russia, Syria and North Korea, opposed the proposal. EFE

am-mt/ia