Apathetic Approach

A number of incidents involving missing Indian seafarers are allegedlyrevealing the apathy of the Union Shipping Ministry towards the lives of Indian sailors whohave beenkilledor gone missing at sea.

According to family sources, in many of these incidents the Ministry has not taken any measure to assist the relatives with information.

Tired of the negative approach of the officials, many are planning to approach the court.

In one of the recent incidents, Lalitha Srivastava, wife of Sanjay Srivastava of Hyderabad, third engineer with MV Nardos who went missing on board an year ago approached DG (Shipping) Lakshmi Venkatachalam. Though the complaint was filed three months ago, the DG Shipping is yet to acknowledge it.

Sanjay, recruited with Panamanian flagship MV Nardos by Columbus Ship Management Mumbai, went on sail on August 5, 2009. Lalitha received a call from Dubaibased ship owner Saeed Nisyif of Suntech Corporation On September 1, saying that Sanjay went missing from the ship on August 27; five days after the alleged incident.

The master of the ship, in an email statement to Lalitha, said Sanjay went to his cabin after duty on that day. Later, when somebody went to call him he was found missing. Sanjays life jacket was also missing. Lalitha, in her complaint, alleged grave foul play in the incident.

Neither the Shipping Ministry nor the International Traffic Foundation (ITF), the socalled helpline, helped me. The company says the matter is over from its side. They have not send me his official and personal documents, including his passport, ATM cards and other belongings, Lalitha said.

In another incident, Radhakrishnan Nair, of Palakkad, has moved the Kerala High Court seeking proper inquiry into the death of his son Sandeep R Nair, who died on July 7, 2009 while serving as Second Officer with Singapore flagship MV Mill Reef in Indonesia.

The petition said the death occurred under mysterious circumstances and no proper inquiry was carried out.

Sandeep was under an employment contract with AngloEastern Ship Management. Radhakrishnan Nair said that on July 7, 2009 he got a letter from AngloEastern informing him about the death of his son. The letter said Sandeep was under the heavy influence of alcohol at the time of death.

Though Radhakrishnan Nair sought clarification, he did not get a proper answer. The petition alleged foul play in the death.

Source:shiptalk