The cargo ship MV Iqram was used during the 1971 war to supply essential goods of the Pakistani occupying forces. In October 1971, the ship was anchoring at Londanghat on the Dakatia River in Chandpur, loaded with supplies for the Pakistani invaders, awaiting release. On 30 October, a group of Bangladesh Liberation Army naval commandos detonated three limpet mines at the bottom of the MV Iqram. The ship sank under the Dakatia River.
After independence, the ship became the property of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank. It has been submerged for 37 years. During this time the ship’s ownership changed several times and many attempts to rescue the ship failed. Finally, a group of traders, after 9 months of continuous efforts, was finally able to lift it up from in 2008. For the first time in 37 years, the ship came into contact with light and air, and unfortunately the real battle for its survival began at that very moment.
After being rescued in 2008, today is 2022. In these 14 years no effective measures have been taken to preserve this ship. In response to the demands of the freedom fighters and the general public, the government issued a stay order on the ship, stating that to keep the ship as it was and the government would pay compensation to the rescuers and preserve the ship. But sadly, after a long struggle of 11 years, rescuers received compensation according to the value of the scrap iron. To this day, the ship is lying half-sunken on the banks of the Shitalakshya River, like a dead body representing our decaying spirit of liberation war.
