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. Read: Trawler capsizes in Meghna: 2 bodies recovered,1 missing 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.

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 decision to halt MV Bay-1 was, in fact, taken after its crew noticed smoke in the engine room -- possibly due to a flash fire -- around 12am, nearly two hours of the ship leaving the Patenga terminal in Chattogram for the island, a popular holiday destination. "The thick smoke from the engine room soon engulfed areas of the ship, triggering chaos on board. The operator was quick to switch off the engine," one of the stranded passengers told UNB over the phone. Also read: You can now travel to Saint Martin's "The ship remains anchored mid-sea off the coast of Kutubdia upazila. I heard a rescue ship is on its way," said Aminul Haque Babu, a human rights activist travelling on the ship. However, Sea Cruise Operator Owners’ Association of Bangladesh attributed the incident to excess engine oil leak. "The ship operator made the right decision to halt it," said Hossain Islam Bahadur, general secretary of the Association. Also read:Teknaf to Saint Martin tourist ship service to run trial on November 16 "Former railways minister Mujibul Haque Mujib is on the ship," he added. Despite repeated attempts, the ship management could not be contacted.