Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, Sep 14 (IANS) Sabir Bux, an internationally acclaimed scuba diver from Orissa, has landed in trouble as a police complaint filed Monday accuses him of entering a restricted area in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip port without permission.
Port authorities lodged the complaint at the Marine police station at Paradeep that the diver went to the prohibited area without permission, the port’s deputy conservator G.K. Biswal said.

“We have lodged the complaint at the Marine police station against Bux for entering the prohibited area without permission,” Biswal told IANS.

While Bux said he went along with members of his team to trace a missing engineer of a sunken ship, Biswal said Bux’s visit was illegal.

“He never took any permission. He went illegally to the ship and conducted a search. He also took photographs illegally,” Biswal said.

Bux said he went Friday to the site 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-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.

Bux, 44, entered the Guinness Book of World Records for crooning for a cricket album underwater in Saudi Arabia in 2007. He claims he stayed underwater for over seven hours.

Bux is also an artist and is often seen in Oriya music albums.