Delhi HC seeks Centre’s response in case of missing Indian seafarer

Vikram Patel has been missing since his ship left India on February 11. His wife filed the plea, requesting government intervention and a search operation.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre through the Ministry of External Affairs to respond to a plea seeking the location of an Indian seafarer who went missing from a ship en route from Russia to Turkey.

Vikram Patel has been missing since his ship left India on February 11. His wife filed the plea, requesting government intervention and a search operation.

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Despite her efforts to get updates on the investigation, she has received no response. Justice Subramonium Prasad has given the Union of India three weeks to respond to the matter, and has listed the case for a hearing on February 2. Patel had called his wife in August, stating that the ship was in a Russian port, but she later lost contact with him, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

“Pursuant to relentless efforts on behalf of the Petitioner to get an update about the investigation, but to no avail, the Petitioner wrote follow up representations to the Ministry of External Affairs on September 4,12 and 13. However, she has received no reply till date. “The petitioner and her family has been running from pillar to post but have not found any information regarding the search of Ikram Patel, till date,” the plea states.

Patel, working since February on medium-range product tanker Mando One, was reported missing on August 10 as the vessel sailed through the Greater Belt region triggering an unsuccessful seven-hour search and rescue effort from both Swedish and Danish authorities. The family had earlier said that they were told by a representative of the vessel’s manager that he was suffering from an unspecified illness and was sent to his cabin for bedrest from August 1.

His last contact with his two sisters and wife was by WhatsApp on August 8, when Mando One was at Vysotsk, where there was a phone signal.