A North Korean-flagged ship carrying some 13,500 tonnes of rice sank in the Bay of Bengal near Bangladesh's main Chittagong port after it collided with another merchant vessel, port officials said on Thursday. All 41 crew aboard the ship were rescued. The accident occurred near midnight on Wednesday near the estuary of the port channel. The ship was carrying the cargo from Pakistan under a government-to-government deal.
"Two-thirds of the ship M.V. Hang Robong has sunk after it collided with another ship," Syed Farhaduddin, a senior port official, told Reuters. "All efforts to tug the ship after the collision failed," he said. Bangladesh has imported up to 3.0 million tonnes of food grains including 1.2 million tonnes of rice in the current fiscal year to June in a bid to keep local prices stable.