The search for 10 Indians, who went missing after their cargo ship Emarald Star sank off the coast of Philippines in the Pacific Ocean last week, is continuing, says the External Affairs Ministry.
“Indian Navy P81 has reached Manila and has also joined the search and rescue operation for missing Indians. Indian Embassy in Japan has informed me that a helicopter and 2 patrol vessels of Japan Coast Guard are engaged in search/rescue operations.” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Monday.
The missing crew are Captain Rajesh Nair, Officer Rahul Kumar, Officer Subramaniam Giridhar Kumar, Chief Engineer Rajput Shyam Singh, Fourth Engineer Subbiah Suresh Kumar, Junior Engineer Chauhan Ashok Kumar, Perumalsamy Gurumurthy, Malavaranan Silambarasan, Murugan Gowtham and Bevin Thomas.
Among the missing, five are from Tamil Nadu, two from Kerala, while the others are from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
The Emarald Star with a Hong Kong flag was owned by a Dubai-based businessman and sank due to extreme bad weather conditions on Thursday.
There were 26 members on board when the cargo ship met with the accident. Sixteen people were later rescued.
Eleven sailors were rescued by another ship Densa Cobra and 5 were rescued by ship Samrinda.
“Officials from our Guangzhou Consulate visited the injured Indian crew of 'Emerald Star' in a Xiamen hospital. 11 crew members are in Xiamen,” Raveesh Kumar MEA spokesperson tweeted on Monday.
Manoj Joy, Port Chaplin, Sailor Society told TNM that the organisation will soon begin to give counselling to the 16 rescued crew members.
"Our crisis response team is closely working with the rescued crew members and once they reach Manila, we will start the sessions," he said.
Captain Rajesh Nair’s family who are settled in Mumbai told media that the government shouldn’t stop the search until they find all the missing.
“We were informed that another aircraft was sent to search for them until the 18th. But I request the government not to stop until they find all the missing,” Rajesh Nair’s wife Reshmi told Mathrubhumi News.