Thousands of litres of diesel are believed to have spilled into the Kirtankhola river in Barisal yesterday, after an oil tanker collided with a cargo ship that was operating with a master.

The oil tanker was carrying about 13 lakh liters of diesel and petrol and a chamber full of 1.2 lakh liters of diesel cracked on impact.

Officials could not say exactly how much oil has spilled, but some media reports suggested it could be some 50,000 litres or more. 

The incident happened at Charkaua point around 8:00am, when Barisal-bound oil-laden vessel MT Fazal collided with Ma-Babar Doa-2, which was carrying raw materials for cement, police said.

Locals quickly rushed to the river with pots and buckets and tried to collect oil.

The staff of the tanker managed to control the damage, by transferring the remaining oil to another empty tank.  

Jamshedur Rahaman, master of the oil tanker, said they were hit by the cargo ship which was coming from the opposite direction.

Some oil spilled in the river from the 1.2 lakh litre chamber that cracked, he said, claiming they managed to transfer most of the oil to another empty chamber.

“The accident happened because the cargo was plying without a pilot and it failed to respond to our signal,” he said.

Ershad Ali, assistant of the master of the cargo vessel, admitted there was no master on their vessel at the time of the accident.

The assigned master failed to broad the vessel from Kaukhali river port, he added.

At the accident spot, about 100 people were seen collecting oil using sponge.

Locals said they collected about 500 litres of oil from the river that way.

Contacted, Azmal Huda Sarkar Mithu, deputy director (marine and passenger safety) of BIWTA in Barisal, said some oil spilled from the tanker but the situation was quickly brought under control.