154 seafarers arrive by bus, quarantined at Vasco hotels

PANAJI/VASCO: After a seafarer who entered the state from Mumbai was found positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, the state government is working to get companies to disembark their crew directly at the port in Goa.
“We are in talks with companies and making efforts to get ships to disembark their Goan crew in Goa itself. We are trying to get the next vessel with around 300 Goans to bring them here directly ,” Reddy said.
The vessel is likely to reach India next week.
More than 150 seafarers from two vessels returned to the state by bus on Friday.
The 154 returnees -86 from the Karnika and 68 from Norwegian cruiseliner Seven Seas Voyager have been sent to four hotels in Vasco where they will undergo quarantine for 14 days before they are allowed to go home.
“Their swab samples will be taken on Saturday and Sunday and tested,” ports secretary P S Reddy said.
The quarantine will be amidst tight police security. Three police personnel would be posted at each hotel for the duration of the 14 day quarantine period, to make sure that the quarantined seafarers do not leave or move around, said police officials.
An official from the company that brought the seafarers to Goa said, “The seafarers were in Mumbai, and only after testing negative for Covid-19, they have been quarantined. After 14 days, if they test negative again, they would be sent home.”
The process started in the morning of Friday and by afternoon they were registered and alloted their rooms for quarantine.
The seafarers from the Karnika spent almost two months on board the vessel docked in Indian waters, while they waited to be disembarked. The first batch of seafarers who arrived from Marella Discovery are on home quarantine while 16 crew from Angriya are in institutional quarantine at a resort in Chorla.
Around 400 seafarers are expected to return to Goa by ship on May 30, and two other ships are expected to drop off large batches of 800 and 500 Goan seamen next month.