Bangladesh suspends coal discharge in fear of coronavirus

Bangladesh has suspended offloading of imported coal from a foreign flag vessel due to suspicion of coronavirus in crew, at Mongla port in southern Bangladesh last week.

According to theport authority the offloading of coal from bulk carrier Serenitas N was stopped on  at berth number H- 3 of Mongla Port on 5 March as three sailors of the vessel were taken into an isolation ward for having a body temperature that exceeded the normal range. The vessel had sailed from the Lianyungang port in China to the Mongla port via Chattogram port, carrying 24,000t of coal on Wednesday.

According to sources, a five-member medical team of the port entered the ship for medical check-ups of the 20 sailors and three Filipino crew were found with body temperature crossing the normal range. As a precaution, port authority also banned the other sailors from getting off the ship until doubt are cleared. The medical test report is still awaited.