THOOTHUKUDI: A mechanised sailing vessel (thoni) that voyaged to Maldives from Thoothukudi with general cargo has gone missing with seven sailors on board. The vessel, ‘MSV Maria Iruthaya Robert Vijay’ with the registration number ‘TTN-224’ had started off on its voyage to Maldives from Thoothukudi old harbour with general cargo weighing 81 tonnes on October 14.
The sailing vessel captained by “Master” Ranjith (39) has six more sailors-Raja (30) son of Henry, Jhonson (52) son of Pushparaj, Bose (38) son of Anthony Samy, Anto (58) Anthonysamy (70) son of De Cruz and Bightwin (39) onboard. The sailing vessel scheduled to reach Maldives on October 18, however did not reach its destination and the whereabouts of the boat is unknown, according to the relatives of the sailors onboard the vessel.
The relatives of the seven men onboard the missing sailing vessel who petitioned the Thoothukudi district collector on Friday, seeking the government’s immediate intervention to rescue the missing vessel and its sailors, said that the vessel owner A Amala received the last call from Captain Ranjith at aound 2 am on October 15, when the vessel was sailing at 10 nauticals off the Kanyakumari coast.
“The communication with the sailors on board the vessel was cut off after that,” said the vessel owner, who too wanted immediate action to find the missing vessel. The Indian Coast Guard patrolling and search and rescue vessels have been reportedly involved in finding the missing sailing vessel, sources told DC.
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