A meeting at Chittagong naval base attended by the representatives of the ship owners, Bangladesh Navy and Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) yesterday settled the case with agreement of paying the amount by the foreign ship owners, sources said.

The Bahamian flag carrier ship with around 487 TEUs containers had failed to control the steering and hit a naval ship, causing damage to it and some naval pontoons at the jetty.

The Bangladesh Navy had estimated over Tk 3.50 crore loss by the accident but finally agreed to receive Tk 1.50 crore as compensation from the ship owners, sources said.

Meanwhile, it is alleged that two investigation committees headed by Nazmul Alam, CPA harbour master captain and Sirajul Islam, mercantile marine department engineer and surveyor, intentionally ignored the fault of CPA pilots.

As the CPA pilot concerned did not board the foreign ship at the anchorage, it entered about five kilometres inside the hazardous channel without him, sources said, adding that the pilot had no knowledge about the sophisticated foreign ship's equipment and did not inform its captain about the danger of tidal movements in and around the naval jetty.

Earlier, on September 21, 2003, a container vessel hit naval flotilla jetty that caused damage to some 50 naval frigates. The damage was then estimated at Tk 100 crore.

Such incidents will tarnish the image of the Chittagong port abroad, a competent source said.