6 Indians dead, 6 missing in Black Sea shipping disaster

NEW DELHI: It has been confirmed that six Indians have lost their lives in a shipping incident on January 21 in the Black Sea involving two ships - the LPG/C Maestro and the LPG/C Candy. Six other Indians are still missing while four have been rescued.

A Russia Emergency Situations Ministry ship works to extinguish a fire on the two vessels near the Kerch Strait off Russia. — AP/PTI

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 23

It has been confirmed that six Indians have lost their lives in a shipping incident on January 21 in the Black Sea involving two ships --- the LPG/C Maestro and the LPG/C Candy.

Six other Indians are still missing while four have been rescued. "We regret to inform that there have been casualties among Indian seamen working on these ships. We convey our deepest condolences to families of those deceased," said a formal Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement today.

The Indians who lost their lives include Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel.

The missing Indian sailors are Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastien Britto Breezlin Sahayraj, Rushikesh Raju Sakpal, Akshay Baban Jadhav and Anandasekar Avinash.

"Arrangements are being made after completion of necessary formalities to bring back the bodies of the deceased to India," officials said.

The repatriation of the mortal remains as well as the other rescued sailors is being facilitated through Director General Communication Centre, Indian Registry of Shipping (0091-22-22614646, 022 22610606) in Mumbai which is in contact with the affected families.

The emergency contact number of the Embassy of India in Moscow is 007-9652773414.

On Monday, two ships flying Tanzanian flags and carrying Indian, Turkish and Libyan crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from Russia.

Fire broke out off Russia's territorial waters during fuel transfer between two ships -- one an LNG carrier and the other a tanker. The Candy with a 17-member crew, included nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals, while the Maestro had seven Turkish nationals, seven Indian citizens and an intern from Libya onboard.