Bright Star

Del LLoyds List

London, Mar 19 — A press report, dated Feb 16, states: Last week, four crew members of general cargo Bright Star (7816 gt, built 1999) died onboard due to stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. This happened when the vessel was near the coast of South India. The vessel had total 20 member crew and the remaining crew also became sick. Indian Coast Guard immediately assisted the shipís crew. Preliminary investigations suggest a case of extreme food poisoning. The sequence of events are: The vessel carrying animal fodder sailed Kandla port Feb 9 for Singapore. The crew after consuming tinned meat and fish on the night of Feb 10 developed stomach ache, diarrhea and vomiting. Due to extreme food poisoning, four crew members died onboard on Feb 11. As the remaining crew also started falling sick, the vessel contacted Korean Coast Guard for help. Korean Coast Guard further contacted Indian Coast Guard for necessary assistance. On Feb 13 morning, offshore patrol vessel Vikram and Inshore patrol vessel Ahalya Bai of Coast Guard with a medical team approached Bright Star to assist and found the vessel afloat near Kanyakumari. The Coast Guard found four sailors dead on board the ship and all the remaining were severely ill. The condition of the master and another crew member was very critical. All the crew members were then taken to Nagercoil for treatment. Arrangements are being made to hand over the dead crew to clearing and forwarding agents of Kochi. (Note — Bright Star subsequently arrived New Tuticorin Feb 28 and was still at anchor as at 0600 today under MMD detention.)