Cargo ship, 25 Indians missing in Black Sea

New Delhi: A cargo ship from Panama has been missing since Monday in the Black Sea. The crew included 25 Indians, four of whom hail from Mumbai.

Five days of intensive searching by the International Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) found no traces of the vessel or its crew. However, a life raft from the MV Rezzak was spotted drifting about five nautical miles off the coast of Turkey.

The vessel, managed by CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret of Turkey, was manned by Pelican Marine, a company based in Mumbai. It was carrying a cargo of steel billets from Russia to Turkey.

At about 0110 GMT (0640 IST) on February 18, the ship lost contact with tracking centers. It was then confirmed missing.

A report by a national daily quoted Pelican Marine’s director, Biswas Santosh, as saying that the weather conditions that day had been gale-like..

“We received information that the vessel is missing on Monday evening,” Santosh informed DNA. “Rezzak left Novorossiysk (Russia) on February 17 and was to reach Bartin (in Turkey) the next morning.”

The crew’s families were informed on Tuesday.

However the relatives of the missing Indians are complaining — they were not informed about the incident by the company.

The brother of one of the 25 missing Indians Udayanarayan Chauhan said, "Whatever information about the incident that I have got to know till now, is only because of news and not the company. When I contacted the company they said we'll keep you updated and inform you every three hours, but its been more than five-six days and there has been no message or reply from the company, even so the nature of the incident is so serious. My only request to the government is to give me some information about my brother as soon as possible."

Overseas Indian Affairs minister, Vayalar Ravi said, “We are in touch with the Turkish government.”

Ravi affirmed that Turkey had not been able to trace the vessel.

“They have not found any debris yet,” he said.

Here is a list of the Indian crew-members:

1	Bharat Bhusahan Goswami
2	Rajesh Kumar Sarangi
3	Pankaj Tyagi
4	Afroz Ahmed
5	Lucas Sesumebler
6	Anthony Alangaram Pieo
7	Akeel Ul Rahman Shafeeque Baumubinge
8	Kishore Kumar Roy
9	Mahendra Gopalkrishna Menon
10	Hemant Anant Shinde
11	Christopher Meyers
12	Alok Kumar
13	Pritam Singh
14	Harish Chandra Bhatt
15	Ashokkumar Dhukhi Prajapati
16	Hriday Narayan Ramjee Chauhan
17	Shanavas Dadahildgothi
18	Farooque Lombomouge
19	Sajid Hajikagothi
20	Asif Donkage Kudage
21	Sameerudheen Donhavvagothi
22	Hussain Mavadigothi
23	Kudage Mohammed Kundiganduge
24	Mohammed Koruhajige Athirige
25	Muthegebidharuge Hussain