Lighter vessel workers on indefinite strike
Loading and unloading operations at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port remain suspended as lighter vessel workers went on a wildcat strike across the country since this morning demanding their security on waterways.
Meanwhile, water vessel movement through all the internal routes was also halted following the strike, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
They enforced the strike from 6:00am following a robbery in a lighter vessel in Laxmipur last night. Seven workers and crew of the water vessel remain missing after the robbery.
A total of 50 vessels with imported goods remained stranded at the outer anchorage till 11:30am when the report was filed.
While talking to The Daily Star, General Secretary of Lighter Vessel Workers’ Union Nabi Alam said they enforced the strike protesting the robbery and demanding immediate rescue of the missing persons.
“The strike will continue until the demands are met,” the union leader warned.
The fertiliser-laden cargo vessel, MV Karnafuli-5, came under the attack when it reached at Char Abdullah in Ramgati upazila of Laxmipur around 2:00am on its way to Sirajganj.
Police, however, suspected that the attack was made following an internal feud, said Humayun Kabir, officer-in-charge of Kamalnagar Police Station in Laxmipur.
Nabi claimed that seven crew and workers remain missing since the incident but he however could not give any explanation on how they went missing.
Later, police rescued the stranded vessel from Batir Khal.
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