CHENNAI: The families 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.
Xavier Prispan of Thoothukudi Rajan Deepan Babu of Chennai, and Ramapuram Sukumar Harsha of Ambur are among the 16 Indian sailors who were detained by the Equatorial Guinea Navy on August 13.
After being probed for nearly three months by authorities from Equatorial Guinea, the oil tanker’s crew are now being taken to Nigeria for a further investigation.
It is learnt that the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian embassy in Equatorial Guinea are holding talks with the authorities concerned to bring the sailors home. “We cooperated fully with the investigation, and the Equatorial Guinea authorities didn’t find anything.
We paid a fine of $2.5 million for not displaying the Equatorial Guinea flag on the Norwegian oil tanker. But they are now planning to transfer us to Nigeria today without any proper papers. We are scared,” Babu told TNIE on Monday. OSM, a leading ship-management and maritime services provider, is the ship manager.
Crew disobeyed order to return to anchorage: Nigerian Navy
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 to be delivered on August 17 but the vessel arrived on August 8. “We provided all the documentation to Nigerian authorities through our Nigerian agent Inchcape Shipping.
As we waited in international waters, we saw a vessel meandering towards us in the darkness. We informed our agent about it. They said it could be pirates so we sped away. On our way, the Equatorial Guinea Navy detained us at gunpoint and escorted us to Malabo Port. All this has been recorded by the Nigerian Navy,” said Deepan.
The Nigerian Navy claims they disobeyed a directive to return to anchorage for interrogation. Deepan said most pirates 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,” he added. Deepan also said the oil tanker did not take an ounce of oil from the oilfield and this was backed by British Petroleum.
What is worrying the crew is the fear that the Nigerian authorities could slap flimsy charges on them that could further delay their return home. Two of the Tamil sailors were to be relieved in September at Rotterdam. Salo, the wife of Xavier Prispan, said her husband did not reveal anything about the incident. The mother of two said she only came to know about i t on Monday.
Even Deepan’s wife Sowmya came to know about the detention only a couple of days ago. “My father-in-law is yet to inform my mother-in-law, who may panic,” said Sowmya, who has approached the State government to bring her husband back. “We approached Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non Resident Tamils’ Welfare Gingee KS Masthan, who promised to take up the issue with the Ministry of External Affairs,” she said.