PARADIP: Days after the death of Russian billionaire and lawmaker Pavel Antov and his friend B Vladimir at a hotel in Rayagada district, another 50-year-old Russian crew member of a vessel was found dead in the anchorage area of Paradip port in Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday.
Sources said crew members of the MV Al Danah vessel spotted chief engineer Sergey Milyakov lying in a cabin and informed captain Podokozin Dmitry, who alerted the authorities of Paradip port for medical help.
The Paradip port trust authorities sent in a medical team, which declared Milyakov dead. "According to the doctors, the Russian national is suspected to have died of cardiac arrest. We are trying to contact his family members. The body is being brought to shore for postmortem," said a senior official of the port.
The vessel left Chittagong last month and embarked in the port anchorage area on Monday for the loading of iron ore for JSW Steel Ltd. The cargo was to be transported to its plant at Dolvi in Maharashtra. There were 23 crew members including Milyakov in the vessel.
Local police feigned ignorance of the incident. IIC of Paradip Marine police station Lizarani Biswal said, "we have not yet received any report on any death of a Russian national in the port area."
Chairman of Paradip port trust PL Haranadh refused to comment on the cause of Milyakov’s death without investigation. He, however, confirmed that the Russian national was found dead on the ship.
This was the third Russian death in the state in less than a fortnight. On December 24, Vladimir reportedly died of a heart attack and Antov was found dead after falling from the terrace of the two-storey hotel in which they were holidaying a day later.
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