This story is from November 18, 2017

MV Emerald Star sinking: Kin of lost sailors stay afloat on hope

MV Emerald Star sinking: Kin of lost sailors stay afloat on hope
NEW DELHI: More than a month after Emerald Star sank when it was caught in a storm off the cost of Japan, 10 Indian sailors are still missing. Distraught but still hopeful, the families of the missing sailors will congregate at India Gate on Sunday for a candle light vigil to highlight the lack of attention that this tragedy has received in the national discourse despite involving so many precious lives.

Merchant vessel Emerald Star, which was carrying 55,000 tonnes of nickel ore, had 26 Indian sailors on board when it ran into Odette, a tropical storm near Okinawa off the coast of Japan. After it sank on October 13 past one at night, 16 of the sailors were rescued. The family members of the untraced crew members have been pleading with the external affairs ministry not to give up the search.
Captain Sher Singh Rajput, who himself captains a merchant vessel, is the elder brother of Emerald Star’s chief engineer, 48-year-old Shyam Singh Rajput, one of the missing men. “We have met the sailors who were rescued and they told us that their colleagues were wearing life jackets. There is a high possibility, therefore, that they might have floated away to nearby islands and are alive,” said Sher Singh.
He added that families wanted the search to be extended from the current area near the Philippines to Taiwan and some Japanese islands. Ashish Ranjan, brother-in-law of missing second officer Rahul Kumar, added, “There are a large number of islands around the spot where the ship sank. We would like the local fishermen, NGOs and hospitals in these areas to be included in the search effort,” said Ranjan.
Ranjan said that the families of the missing sailors did not even know if the search operations were continuing or had been called off or how many probable areas had been covered by rescuers. The relatives of sailors started getting calls from the company on the evening of the next day. Kumar (38) is the father of two daughters, the younger one of whom, Saanvi, is just three months old and hasn’t yet met her father.
“Officials told us that of the 26 sailors, 16 were rescued the same day. No one among the 10 reported missing has been found even after a month,” Ranjan reiterated. The Indian Navy sent a P-81 maritime surveillance aircraft, laden with emergency food and water supply, on a rescue mission on October 16 and reached Manila the following day. The aircraft did not achieve much due to poor weather and returned to India after four days, a family member told TOI.

Sher Singh explained that ships carrying nickel ore have been involved in several accidents in the past year, perhaps due to the ore’s moisture absorbing capability. However, authorities like the International Maritime Organization had failed to formulate regulations on managing this specially hazardous cargo. “It is also sad that IMO has not made even basic things such as a rescue beacon mandatory on the life jackets worn by sailors. We need reforms if we are to avoid lost lives in the future,” the captain said.
Beside Rajput and Kumar, the other men missing are captain Rajesh Ramachandran Nair, third officer Giridhar Kumar Subramaniam, fourth engineer Suresh Kumar Subbiah, junior engineer Ashok Kumar Chauhan, and Gurumurthy Perumalsamy, Silambarasan Malavaranan, Gowtham Murugan and Bevin Thomas.
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