Bhubaneswar, Sep 18 - The body of a Russian engineer has been recovered from the cargo ship that sank off Orissa's Paradip port earlier this month, an official said Friday.

His body was fished out from the ship by divers pressed into service by the Paradip port authorities.

The Mongolian vessel capsized Sep 9 in the harbour area of Paradip port, some 100 km from here, carrying about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore fines and 900 tonnes of oil.

Although 26 of the 27 crew members were rescued within three hours of the ship's sinking, the engineer had not been traced.

Sabir Bux, a scuba diver from Orissa, had earlier landed in trouble when he allegedly entered a restricted area in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip port without permission to try and find the Russian engineer. Port authorities had lodged a police complaint against him.