The authorities do not expect the bodies of the sailors as well as those rescued after the Kerch Strait mishap, in which two ships caught fire in Russian waters on Monday, to arrive in India any time soon due to a number of pending formalities.
Officials said that with four days having passed since the mishap, shipping authorities have also expressed reservations regarding the retrieval of bodies of the missing sailors.
“As there was a collision, we do not know in what state we will find the bodies. It is very unlikely that we will find them intact,” said a DG Shipping official.
The two ships carrying crew members from India, Turkey and Libya caught fire on Monday while fuel was being transferred from one vessel to another. The mishap killed at least 12 seamen.
Indian authorities have said six sailors have been killed, four have been rescued and six are still missing. The Ministry of External Affairs has identified the deceased as Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarjan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel. The missing Indian seamen have been identified as Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastian Britto Breezlin Sahayaraj, Rushikesh, Akshay Baban Jadhav and Anandasekar Avinash.
The official added that the survivors are expected to be questioned by local investigators to understand the cause of the mishap. “They will not be allowed to leave until a preliminary inquiry is conducted. Multiple agencies have to give clearance before tickets can be booked for them to return.”
Authorities said Russian and the local Indian Mission officials are working closely towards the repatriation of the bodies of the deceased. “We need concurrence of from the next of kin to conduct autopsies before the bodies can be released,” said the official.
Mumbai-based Nimbus Maritime Services Private Limited, the employer of the Indian sailors, has engaged a local agent in Russia to liaise with the local authorities and assist in the return of the survivors and the deceased.
