Bagerhat: Two probe panels have been formed to look into the capsize of a coal-laden cargo vessel in the Shela River in Harintana area of the Sundarbans under Mongla upazila, reports UNB.

The district administration constituted a five-member committee with Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Mominul Rashid as its head while the Forest Department a four-man one headed by assistant conservator of forest under Sharankhola range Kamal Ahmed.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the district M Jahangir Alam said the committee formed by the administration has been asked to submit its report within the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, the committee formed by the Sundarbans East Zone has been directed to submit its report within the next three days.

Meanwhile, representatives from the Forest Department, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Coast Guard, Mongla port and local administration visited the spot on Sunday morning.

DFO Saidul Islam said either overloading or fitness problem might have caused the vessel to sink.

However, no progress has been made in salvaging the sunken vessel as it is lying under 30-40 feet deep of water, he said.

Meanwhile, the forest department banned the plying of vessels through Sharankhola-Bhola and Mongla-Pashur river points in the Sundarbans after 11:00am on Sunday, and asked all the vessel owners to leave the Sundarbans before sunset, the DFO said.

Earlier, a Noapara, Jessore-bound coal-laden cargo vessel MV Sea Hosrse 1 from Chittagong with 1235 tons of coal sank in the Shela River at Harintana on Saturday evening.

However, all the 14 crew members of the vessel, owned by ‘Shamata Trading Agency’, managed to swim ashore after the incident and went into hiding.

Earlier on 9 December, 2014, a tanker carrying some 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil sank in the river creating a ground for a prolonged impact on the coastal ecology of the Sundarbans.