The cruise ship that was stuck in the middle of the sea returned to Patenga successfully at noon on Friday, according to the port authority.
The tugboat Kandari-10 reached the spot on Friday morning, 17 nautical miles from Patenga, and dragged the MV Bay-1 ship along with its passengers to shore.
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Earlier, panic gripped some 800 passengers of a Saint Martin Island-bound luxury cruise ship on Friday midnight after thick smoke-filled areas of the vessel, prompting its operator to anchor mid-sea.
"The thick smoke from the engine room soon engulfed areas of the ship, triggering chaos on board. However, the ship's crew extinguished the fire in a short time," stranded passenger Md Arman Hossain told UNB.
Read: Smoke on board cruise ship sparks panic mid-sea
Engineer Moin Uddin, an official of Karnafuli ShipBuilders and operating in charge of Bay-1, said, "One of the two engines of the ship became useless. The ship could run with an engine but it didn’t take a risk and returned without going to St. Martin," he added.