Six Indian crew died in Russia ship fire: External Affairs Ministry

NEW DELHI: Six Indians were killed and six others remain missing after a major fire broke out on two Tanzanian-flagged ships in the Black Sea, the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.

Conveying its condolences to the families of the Indian seamen, the Ministry identified the victims as Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raj Debnarayan Pani (from vessel Candy) and Karankumar Haribhai (Maestro).

The missing Indians are Maestro's Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastian Britto Breezlin Sahayaraj and Anandasekar Avinash and Candy's Rushikesh Raju Sakpal and Akshay Baban Jadhav.

Four Indians were rescued: Harish Joi, Sachin Singh, Ashish Ashok Nair and Kamleshbhai Gopalbhai Tandel.

A Ministry statement said the Russian Maritime Agency and Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre Novorossiysk were continuing their efforts to locate those listed as missing.

Saying that the Director General Communication Centre at the Indian Registry of Shipping in Mumbai was in touch with the families of the Indian seamen, the statement said arrangements were being made to bring back the bodies of the deceased.

The two ships had a total of 32 crew members including Turks, Indians and a Libyan intern.

Preliminary information said the fire erupted on Monday night due to the failure of a pump being used to transfer fuel between the two vessels in violation of security regulations, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.