Thiruvananthapuram: Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan assured on Sunday that his ministry would bring the Indian sailors detained in Guinea back to the country. He said that the embassy is currently discussing the matter. To prevent the transfer of sailors to Nigeria, ministry officials have contacted the government officials there, and added that he hoped to bring the sailors straight to India from Guinea.
The crew has three Keralites, including V Vijith, the brother of Vismaya who died by suicide owing to dowry harassment in Kollam. The rest are foreigners The Guinean Navy couldn’t find anything unusual in the investigation, according to reports. The Guinean Navy reportedly detained the ship at the behest of the Nigerian Naval Force. The move was to hand over the whole crew to Nigeria. The crew was on board M T Heroic Idun, a Norway-based ship. They were detained when the ship reached the AKPO terminal on August 8 to fill with crude oil.
The ship and the crew were detained by the Guinean Navy suspecting that the vessel had reached to steal crude oil. Although the company paid a penalty of $20 lakh, the Guinean Navy was not ready to release the vessel. Vijith’s message to his father K Vikraman Nair had said that they are in Guinea’s capital Maloba. Vijith set sail five months ago, family members said.
A strong involvement by India through diplomatic channels would be needed to secure the release of sailors, as per reports. According to Global Ship tracking sites, the Heroic Idun was still in the Gulf of Guinea on the Western African coast on Sunday morning. Maritime trade is a key source of income for the coastal states of West Africa and oil accounts for a lion’s share of Nigeria’s income. Oil piracy is rampant in the Gulf of Guinea.
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