Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, Sep 14 (IANS) Sabir Bux, an internationally acclaimed scuba diver, is facing trouble for allegedly entering a restricted area in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip port in Orissa.
While Bux Monday said he went along with members of his team to track a missing engineer of a sunken ship, the port authorities said Bux’s visit was illegal and they would file a criminal case against him.

“He never took any permission. He went illegally to the ship and conducted a search. He also took photographs illegally. We are going to file a case against him for violation of coastal security,” G.K. Biswal, the port’s deputy conservator, told IANS Monday.

Bux said he went Friday to the site in the Bay of Bengal where a cargo ship capsized Wednesday evening carrying about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore and about 900 tonnes of fuel oil.

The vessel, under a Mongolian flag, capsized some five to six km off the harbour area of the Paradip port, about 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

Although 26 crew members have been rescued, one is still missing.

“The Ukrainian engineer who is missing may be alive. That is why we went and conducted the search. The intention was to save him,” Bux said.

“We went on the request of the engineer’s family from Ukraine and a request from the office of the Consulate General of Ukraine in India,” Bux said.

“If port authorities want to file a case against me for trying to save a life, let them,” he said.

Born on July 10, 1966 in Orissa’s steel city Rourkela, Bux entered the Guinness Book of Records for crooning for a cricket album underwater in Saudi Arabia in 2007.

Bux claims he stayed underwater for over seven hours. Bux is also an artist and is often seen in Oriya music albums.