Indian ships still conduct survey

The three Indian oil and gas survey ships that entered seven miles into Bangladesh maritime boundary under Deep-sea Block-14 Thursday, continued their survey work yesterday claiming that they were inside their maritime boundary.

The Indian ships made counter claims yesterday that the Bangladesh Navy frigate Khaled Bin Walid was 60 miles inside Indian waters.

However, tension between the two countries was minimal as there were no Indian warships visible. Bangladesh Navy also withdrew Khaled Bin Walid from the spot and replaced it with a smaller naval ship to keep watch until the Indian survey ships leave the disputed waters.

A source said that it looked like the Indian ships would be leaving the spot within a couple of days.

Meanwhile, a foreign ministry spokesman yesterday said the Indian survey vessel and its two support ships had initially moved towards Indian waters but were spotted inside Bangladesh waters Thursday afternoon.

A ministry press release quoted the spokesman as saying that the government was going to lodge a formal complaint to the Indian authorities asking them not to do any exploratory work until the maritime border issue is solved through mutual agreement.

This is the first time Indian oil and gas survey ships entered Bangladesh maritime economic zones. Last month, a tensed situation developed when Myanmar sent a drilling rig well within Bangladesh waters along with warships.

The situation calmed down when the South Korean company operating the rig withdrew to avoid a conflict forcing Myanmar to stop the operation.