The ship lies stranded in Nurpur. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Nurpur (Diamond Harbour), March 22: A ship from Colombo got stuck in the Hooghly riverbed at Nurpur near Diamond Harbour today after its steering jammed and it crashed through a jetty.

The jetty, owned by the Calcutta Port Trust, was severely damaged but there were no casualties, officials said.

“Initial information suggests the steering of the container vessel jammed when the master tried to negotiate a sharp bend and it rammed into the jetty,” Port Trust chairman A. K. Chanda said. “A detailed inquiry is being conducted.”

Port officials said there was no significant damage to the ship and it could soon set sail again.

CS Signe was heading for the Netaji Subhas Dock in Kidderpore with a 20-member crew. The 140-metre-long vessel was carrying 384 containers weighing 6,370 tonnes. It has the capacity to carry 918 containers, Port Trust sources said.

From the Bay of Bengal, the ship entered the Hooghly around noon and was on its way to Calcutta. Port officials said there are two sharp bends near Diamond Harbour, around 60km from Calcutta.

“The vessel sailed through the first bend but faltered when it came to the second one between Diamond Harbour and Falta, which is sharper,” an official said.

The steering jammed on the right side and the ship began drifting towards the jetty at Hooghly Point.

“We heard a loud bang and rushed to see the ship had ploughed through the jetty. One end of the ship was on the bank,” said Sorabuddin Mollah, a Nurpur resident.

His 80-year-old neighbour, Sheikh Khordali, said he hadn’t seen such a sight in his life.

Port officials at Hooghly Point said there could have been a disaster had the ship crashed into a jetty from which passenger ferries operate. The Nurpur jetty is used by the Port Trust to operate its vessels for survey and other purposes.

Hundreds crowded the jetty and police had to cordon off the area. In the afternoon, Port Trust personnel began to make arrangements for pushing the vessel back into the river.

“Two tug vessels have been sent from Calcutta. They will get to work during high tide late tonight. If the ship does not move, we will have to wait for another high tide,” the Port Trust chairman said. Tug vessels are small ships used to push vessels stuck in the riverbed.