CHENNAI: The family members of three Tamil sailors, who are among the 26-member crew of MT Heroic Idun, an oil tanker illegally detained in Equatorial Guinea on the west coast of central Africa, have desperately appealed to the Ministry of External Affairs and the state government to rescue them and bring them back home.
The three sailors --- Xavier Prispan of Thoothukudi, Rajan Deepan Babu, and Ramapuram Sukumar Harsha of Chennai --- are among the 16 Indian sailors who were detained by Equatorial Guinea Navy on August 13.
After being probed for nearly three months by Equatorial Guinea authorities, what is worrying the Indian crew is that they are now being taken over to Nigeria for further probe.
"We had cooperated fully with the investigation and the Equatorial Guinea authorities did not find anything. We were fined $2.5 million for not displaying the Equatorial Guinea flag on the Norwegian oil tanker. We paid the fine. But officials are now planning to transfer us to Nigeria without any proper papers on Monday. We are scared," says Rajan Deepan Babu, a Chennai resident of Madipakkam.
OSM, a leading ship management and maritime services provider company, is the ship manager for the vessel.
Trouble started for the crew when the Marshall Island flagship left for the Nigerian oilfield to fetch oil on the instruction of their charterer British Petroleum. The oil consignment was scheduled to be delivered on August 17 but the vessel arrived on August 8. "This is usual among the merchant vessels to arrive early and then wait for the cargo," says Deepan.
"We provided all the documentation to Nigerian authorities through our Nigerian agent Inchcape Shipping. As we waited at the international water, we saw a vessel meandering towards us at a rapid speed in the darkness. We informed our agent about it. They said it could be pirates as such we sped. On our way, we were detained by the Equatorial Guinea Navy at gunpoint and escorted to Malabo Port. All this has been recorded by the Nigerian Navy," said Deepan.
Nigerian Navy claims they have disobeyed a directive to return to anchorage for interrogation. Deepan says most of the pirates usually claim to be from the Nigerian Navy and rob merchant vessels. “It was only later that the owner confirmed it was indeed a Nigerian Naval boat. We have provided all the evidence of the transcript between our agent and the captain over the false alarm to the Nigerian authorities," he added.
Deepan also said that the oil tanker did not take any ounce of oil from the oilfield and this was backed by the charterer British Petroleum.
What is worrying the crew is the fear that the Nigerian authorities could slap some flimsy charges on them which could further delay their voyage back home.
Interestingly, two of the Tamil sailors were to be relieved in September at Rotterdam.
Salo, the wife of Xavier Prispan, who hails from Thoothukudi, says that her husband did not reveal anything about this incident. The mother of two says she only came to know of it only on Monday. "He was scheduled to sign off in September. He told us that it is getting delayed without informing us about the plight he is in," says a worried Salo.
Deepan's wife Sowmya also came to know about the detention only a couple of days ago. "We are providing him hope despite us being under tremendous pressure. I came to know of this only two days ago. My father-in-law has yet to let the news slip to my mother-in-law, who may panic," says a worried Sowmya, who has approached the state government authorities to bring back her husband.
"We had approached Gingee K S Masthan, Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils' Welfare, who assured that the issue will be taken up with the Ministry of External Affairs," she says.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian embassy in Equatorial Guinea are currently holding talks with the concerned authorities to bring back the sailors.