Click to play videoMangalore: All the 21 survivor crew members of Den Den, the Eritrean vessel that sank at Tannir Bhavi near Mangalore on June 23—are still miles away from their homes.
“We request the Indian government and especially the management involved in our case, to clear our return as soon as possible,” says Mohammed Younis, Chief Engineer, Den Den.
Younis is echoing the sentiments of the 21 survivors who managed to escape the ship (the Eritrean vessel) that sank at Tannir Bhavi near Mangalore on the June 23. Having lost all their documents, a hotel in Mangalore has been their home for more than 2-months now.
The Port Trust is holding them as guarantee until payment for the salvage operations are made, sometime in October.
"They won’t let us leave this place until they get a letter of guarantee. A local agent is preparing our travel documents. We lost all our documents in the accident. Our passports, certificates everything. We have been told that the new letter of guarantee has been forwarded to the Indian authorities,” says Abraham Kwaw, Captain, Den Den.
"We are very worried about our families. They are waiting for us to get back,” says Mohammed Younis.
Newspapers and television are their only window to the world and the crew is forced to bide its time inside the hotel, until a guarantee is given for removal of the ship. However that may take time.
Maheshwar Rao, Deputy Commissioner, Dakshina Kannada says, “With regard to shifting of the ship, as of now, the servers have been appointed by the concerned shipping agencies. We will be able to remove the ship or break it up or dispose it only after the monsoons are over.”
For these men, the agony of facing near death once has only been compounded by their helplessness in not being able to get back to their loved ones.
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