Body of a foreign ship captain was recovered this morning, 38 hours after he fell from the vessel into the waters at Chittagong sea port.

Crewmembers of Cyprus-flagged ship MV Erina identified the body of Makopoulos Vasileios, 57, after the port’s security officials recovered it from the shore near NCT terminal area around 9:45am.

Vasileios, 57, is a Greek national and the captain of MV Erina which came from China.

Members of Chittagong port security department, marine department and coast guard jointly recovered the body with the help of an ambulance ship, Lt Col Md Abdul Gaffar, director (security) at the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), told The Daily Star.

The body of the captain will be sent to his homeland Greece on completion of formalities, Reazuddin Khan, local agent of the ship and chairman of Incheate shipping company, said.

A general diary (GD) was filed with Bandar Police Station after the captain went missing, Khan said.

On Monday night, Vasileios slipped from a rope ladder as he was checking the vessel’s draught at jetty No. 7 at the port around 8:00pm, according to the port authorities.

People on the ship could not rescue the captain immediately as he was caught in the ebb tide, it said.

Seven patrol and two turbo boats began a search immediately after the incident.

MV Erina, a bulk carrier, is carrying around 28,458 tonnes of materials including steel pipes and machineries for Payra sea port in Patuakhali, the correspondent said.