An investigation report blames navigational error for the accident
India is continuing to detain eight foreign national seafarers from the Panama-flagged Mirach who have been held since the ship hit a rock and sunk off the Kanyakumari coast on 1 April.
The seafarers, who include the captain, are being held without a court order. An investigation report blames navigational error for the accident. A further 15 Georgian crew members have been freed following detention.
The seafarers still detained are all officers and include six Turkish nationals and two Azerbaijanis. The detained seafarers are said to be very depressed and not eating.
ITF inspector K Sree Kumar, assistant secretary of the Madras Port Trust Employees Union, who has met the seafarers, says the ITF will be working to help release them, and that the detention of the crew and their passport and travel documents was “a clear case of violation of crew rights.”
Source: ITF
