Over 400,000 liters of petrol and diesel have been recovered from the oil tanker Sagor Nandini-II, which was damaged by an explosion in the Sugandha River in Jhalakathi.
At least four workers of the oil tanker sustained burn injuries and five others went missing in the explosion on Saturday afternoon.
Operations for rescuing the missing crew members was on till Sunday, the second day of the explosion.
The operation was being conducted by members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Bangladesh Coast Guard, and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).
Meanwhile, a three-member probe body has been formed over the incident. The committee is headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Jhalkathi Ruhul Amin.
The explosion took place when the oil tanker had been unloading the fuel at the Padma oil depot around 2:10pm on Saturday.
There were nine crew members on board including the master. Of them, four people were rescued with injuries.
The oil tanker was ferrying 1.1 million litre of petrol and diesel from Chittagong to the Padma Oil Depot in Jhalakathi, said depot Supervisor Hossain Ahmed.
The vessel was scheduled to unload oil on Saturday afternoon. However, a sudden explosion took place in the engine room at 2:00pm and the oil tanker caught fire.
The injured workers were undergoing treatment at Barishal Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital and Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital.
Abdus Salam, a worker of Padma Oil Company in Jhalakathi chapter, said the Sagar Nandini-2 vessel carrying around 10 lakh litres of petrol and diesel anchored in front of the oil company in the river earlier.
It was scheduled to unload the fuel from the vessel on Saturday afternoon when it caught the fire with a big bang inside the engine room around 2pm, he said, adding that four people sustained burn injuries and five others remain missing in this connection.
Md Muhitul Islam, additional superintendent of district police, said divers of the fire service personnel rescued the burned workers and are searching for the missing ones.
