Locals Panic After 2 Ships Dock At Odisha’s Dhamra Port

Bhadrak: Panic gripped locals after two ships anchored at Dhamra Port off the coast of Bhadrak in Odisha on Tuesday as they apprehended that the crew members might have been exposed to the deadly coronavirus (nCoV now called Covid 19).

Wuhan in China has been the epicentre of the outbreak, which has so far claimed over 2100 lives in that country, and the respiratory illness has also spread to Hong Kong controlled by People’s Republic of China.

Allaying the fear of spread of the new strain of the virus in the locality, Additional District Magistrate, Bhadrak, Shyambhakt Mishra informed that the crew members had undergone screening for the deadly virus and there was nothing to panic.

Mishra said that he had spoken to Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) authorities on the matter.

The port authorities said that he crew members would not be allowed to disembark as they did not have immigration passes. The ship would leave the port after loading shipment, they added.

Last month, the authorities of Paradip Port have asked crew members of seven ships, which had arrived from China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore on January 27, not to disembark.

“This is a particularly bad time because of the coronavirus. So we have refused permission to the crew members to disembark. They are staying inside the ships,” chairperson of the Paradip Port Trust, Rinkesh Roy, had said.