N S Nilan sinks in Hooghly near Kolkata Port

Kolkata, Jun 23 (UNI) N S Nilan, a Bangladeshi barge, sank in Hooghly near Kolkata Port today while sailing with cargo.

Official sources said there was no casualty as all the 13 crew members, including an Indian, swam ashore.

The vessel, carrying 690 tonns of iron wires and rods for construction work, was sailing back to Naryanganj in Bangladesh after loading the cargo at Kolkata port.

The incident occurred when the steering cable of the barge suddenly snapped and it hit the bank near Raichak and Nurpur, about 62 km off Kolkata, the sources said.

''The barge took about five hours to run aground. Only 1.5 feet of it was visible before the tide came,'' they said.

Efforts were on to lift the barge from water with the help of shipping agencies. However, the incident did not affect the navigation channel, they said.

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