Jumbangla Desk: A lighterage vessel carrying LPG of Bashundhara exploded and caught fire at Kutubdia Point in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday midnight. The Coast Guard and Navy rescued 31 people alive on the ship by carrying out rescue operations till Sunday morning.

The incident happened on Saturday (October 12) around 1:00 p.m.

Qutubdia Coast Guard East Zone Officer Lt. Shakib Mehbub said that the fire broke out in a lighterage vessel named Sufia carrying LPG anchored at Koyarbil Point in Qutubdia.

The fire that broke out in the LPG lighterage ship Sufia at Qutubdia in Cox's Bazar has not yet been brought under control. Coast Guard and Navy are trying to douse the fire.

This information was informed by the Navy at around 11 am today.

The ship caught fire in the outer anchorage area west of the coast of Qutubdia at around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday. After receiving the news, the rescuer went to the rescue. According to the Navy, 31 sailors on board jumped into the water. Later they were rescued. All were discharged after first aid.

Coast Guard East Zone Officer Lt. Saqib Mehbub said the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage were not known.

"The ship anchored in the Bay of Bengal west of Qutubdia coast," said Lt. Commander Khandkar Munif Taqi, media officer of the Coast Guard East Zone. A sudden fire broke out on Saturday midnight. The fire spread in a terrible manner. After receiving information through the upazila administration of Kutubdia and the locals, some ships of the navy and coast guard reached the spot to carry out rescue work.

According to the Navy, five state-of-the-art Navy ships along with two Coast Guard ships and a Chittagong port ship are working to control the fire in the LPG-carrying lighterage ship Sufia, located south of the Qutubdia anchorage in the Bay of Bengal. Navy ship Shapla, which was on patrol at outer anchorage, rushed to the spot immediately after receiving the information about the fire in the middle of the night and started controlling the fire.

Four more ships of the Navy and two ships of the Coast Guard later joined the fire. Due to the combined efforts of the Navy and the Coast Guard, the fire has already been brought under control. Apart from this, Navy and Coast Guard medical teams are providing first aid after rescuing the 21 crew in the ship. Along with the Navy and Coast Guard, Chittagong Port is working to control the ship fire.

Earlier, on September 30, an oil tanker named 'Banglar Jyoti' exploded after a fire in Patenga, Chittagong. At this time three people died. Two investigation committees were formed in this incident. A few days later another oil tanker named Sourav of Bengal caught fire.