Black sea tragedy: India confirms 6 dead, 6 missing, 4 rescued

Written By Sidhant Sibal | Updated: Jan 23, 2019, 10:56 PM IST

Kerch: In this video grab provided by Russia Emergency Situations Ministry press service, a Russia Emergency Situations Ministry ship works to extinguish a fire on the two vessels, the Maestro and the Candiy, near the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Crimea, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Two Tanzanian-flagged tankers caught fire Monday while liquefied petroleum gas was being pumped from one tanker to another. The blaze spread quickly, prompting the crews to jump overboard. The ships were about 30 kilometers (15 nautical miles) off the Crimean coast when the fire started.

Incident happened while fuel was being transferred.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that 6 Indians are dead while 6 are still missing in the shipping incident in the Black Sea involving two ships- Maestro and Candy. Of the 6 Indians who are dead, 5 are from Candy while one was from Maestro. The deceased are- Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel. Those who are still missing are--Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastian Britto Breezlin Sahayaraj, Rushikesh Raju Sakpal, Akshay Baban Jadhav, Anandasekar Avinash.

The ministry of external affairs in a release said, "we regret to inform that there have been causalities among Indian seamen working on these ships. We convey our deepest condolences to families of those deceased."Russian Maritime Agency and Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre Novorossiysk are still continuing its efforts to locate those are missing.

4 Indians, Harish Jogi, Sachin Singh, Ashish Ashok Nair, and Kamleshbhai Gopalbhai Tandel were rescued. The accident took place on 21st January when fuel was being transferred from one ship to other ship. The accident took place 16 miles from the coast of Russia's Krasnodar Krai at the entrance to the Kerch Strait.

The Director-General Communication Center, Indian Registry of Shipping, Mumbai is in touch with families of affected Indian seamen. Indian Registry of Shipping is making all arrangements for the repatriation of rescued seamen while Indian embassy in Moscow is making arrangements to bring back the bodies of the deceased.

The MEA has issued emergency contact number of the Embassy of India in Moscow which is 007-9652773414. The number of Director General Communication Center, Indian Registry of Shipping is also given out which is 0091-22-22614646, 022 22610606.

Meanwhile, the Investigation Committee of Russia has initiated a criminal case under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence). Russian authorities are providing assistance by the rescue ships Mercury and Demidov.