City merchant navy officer among others held hostage in Guinea

Kanpur: Twenty-six years old Roshan Arora, a merchant navy official, has been held hostage in Guinea (West Africa), for the past three months. Along with him, 16 other Indians are being held hostage.
As per Roshan’s parents, who live in Govindnagar area of the city, the Nigerian Navy has accused them of stealing crude oil. “There are a total of 26 members in the crew of the ship, of which 16 are Indians. Among them is my son Roshan Arora,” said Manoj Arora, Roshan’s father on Monday. On coming to know about the shocking developments, local Bharatiya Janata party MP Satyadeo Pachauri and BJP MLA Mahesh Trivedi met Roshan’s family on Monday. They assured all possible help to the family. MP Pachauri said that he will raise the issue with the ministry of external affairs, and along with Roshan everyone will be returned safely to India soon. Roshan’s father Manoj Arora, a resident of Govindnagar Labor Colony, told TOI that his son Roshan was undergoing training as a captain in merchant navy for the last three years.
“This was his first shipment. The Nigerian Navy was in talks with the company for the last three months,” he said and added that his son has been implicated in a false case of oil theft, and the government should bring everyone back safely. Roshan meanwhile is in touch with his father through WhatsApp calling and chatting. He claimed that the company has also paid the fine. Despite this, they are not being released. Roshan’s mother Seema and elder sister Komal also pleaded with the Central government for his and his colleagues safe release. According to Komal, Roshan had gone to load Nigeria crude oil on August 8. The team includes 16 Indians, six Sri Lankans and one each from Poland and the Philippines and two other merchant navy officers. Roshan’s father said that people from Dehradun, Ambala, Karnataka are also trapped in the crew there. Roshan’s sister said that when her brother’s ship was going back, it was stopped by the officers of the Merchant Navy of Guinea on the way. “Nearly, 15 officers have been imprisoned in Malabo and 11 have been placed under house arrest. My brother -Roshan is imprisoned in Malabo and it’s three months now since they all have been imprisoned,” she said while weeping bitterly. She added, her brother’s company kept them in the dark and didn’t apprise anything regarding this. “We only came to know when Roshan called us on Saturday and narrated the ordeal to us. And he only apprised when he came to know it was difficult to get out of there, because he had heard that the Navy of Guinea was going to hand over all of them to the Nigerian Navy. We are in touch with him through WhatsApp calling and chat,” she said. The company had told Roshan that the country of Guinea had imposed a fine, which was paid within a week, she said. “Despite this, why the Guinea Navy is now going to hand over these people to the Nigerian Navy instead of releasing them,” she added.