2 Kangra youths among crew of detained ship in Nigeria

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 21

Two residents of Kangra are among the crew of commercial ship “Sea Pearl” detained by the Nigerian Navy in August.

The locals who were on the ship, owned by a Mumbai-based shipping company, include sailor Atul Sharma, who belongs to Rakkar tehsil, and Sudhir Kumar of Nagrota Bagwan. They have sent a video to their families through messaging apps in which they have requested the Indian government for their release.

On Monday, their families met state chief of the BJP’s woman wing Indu Goswami in Palampur and BJP MP and former CM Shanta Kumar seeking help.

Atul Sharma’s brother Aman Sharma said he had left to Nigeria from Mumbai in August this year.

The vessel was detained by the Nigerian Navy in August-end in a case pertaining to 2012, he added.

The stranded sailors have also approached the Indian Embassy in Nigeria for help, but to no avail.

The company “Sea Pearl Shipping” has also not responded positively. “They are running out of essential supplies and have not got salaries for three months,” he alleged. Reema, wife of another sailor Sudhir Kumar, said they had approached every authority, but help did not reach them.

“We request the External Affairs Ministry to get my husband and others released at the earliest. He has committed no crime as he was not on the vessel in 2012, the year to which the case pertains,” she said. The families, however, have no information about the case in which the vessel has been detained. Meanwhile, the video of the stranded sailors shows the two Kangra residents talking about how the vessel was detained and that they were running out of essential supplies. The Nigerian Navy told them that they could release the vessel only after a request letter from the company. “We also contacted the Indian Embassy, but to no avail,” they alleged.