LUCKNOW: Families of two Uttar Pradesh seafarers, Bir Bahadur Yadav (26) of Deoria and Amit Singh (20) of Kushinagar, who went missing after a drone attack on the Nicaragua-flagged commercial tanker MT Petro Dolphin near Oman’s Sohar port on October 11, have demanded accountability from the ship’s captain. They alleged that he ordered the evacuation without adequately searching for the missing crew members.Amit’s uncle, Ravindra Singh, a second officer in the merchant navy with 20 years of experience, alleged that the Indian captain failed to follow essential emergency procedures, including conducting a proper headcount and searching for missing sailors before abandoning the vessel.“The captain’s first responsibility is to ensure the safety of every crew member. Even after knowing that two sailors were missing, he ordered evacuation without properly searching for them. They could have been injured or unconscious somewhere on the ship,” Ravindra alleged.He further claimed that the vessel’s emergency firefighting arrangements were compromised because its two main generators and emergency generator were allegedly non-functional.“When the drone struck, the only operational generator reportedly shut down, causing a blackout. Had the emergency generator been functional, firefighting equipment could have been operated and efforts made to locate the missing sailors,” he said.Ravindra has approached the Directorate General of Shipping (Government of India), seeking immediate intervention, coordination with Omani authorities and a detailed account of the rescue operation.He also alleged that Amit, who joined the vessel in early January as an ‘ordinary seaman’, had not received several months’ salary. Shortly before the attack, Amit had messaged his sister, asking her to inform him when his pending salary was credited.Meanwhile, Bir Bahadur’s elder brother, Mantu Yadav, said the family learnt about the incident through the recruitment agent.“My brother had joined the ship about five months ago on his first assignment. He was serving as a ‘trainee engine rating’ on the vessel. He was frightened by the deteriorating security situation and had spoken about leaving the vessel before completing his nine-month contract,” said Mantu, who had been working in the UAE for the past 14 years and had returned home on leave.Recalling their last conversation on October 10, Mantu said Bir Bahadur had expressed concern about attacks on ships in the region. The family had been planning his marriage after his return.According to information Mantu received from another crew member, Bir Bahadur and Amit were working near the same section of the vessel when the attack occurred. Their whereabouts remain uncertain.However, a communication from the Indian embassy in Oman, citing coordination with the shipping company, presented a different account of the evacuation.According to the captain’s statement conveyed in the communication, “Immediately after the attack, the crew called for assistance, and nearby fishing boats arrived to rescue them. After safely evacuating 10 crew members (including one Bangladesh national), the rescued crew requested the fishermen to return to the vessel, hoping the two missing crew members might still be nearby awaiting rescue. Accordingly, the fishing boat circled the vessel twice while calling out to them; however, no response was received. Fearing a possible explosion, the fishermen then returned towards shore (sic).”The communication said arrangements were being made to send a team aboard the vessel to search for any trace of the missing sailors.It also stated, “The management of the shipping is arranging payment of all outstanding salaries and, in coordination with the embassy, is facilitating the early repatriation of nine crew members to India and one crew member to Bangladesh.”On Wednesday, the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) urged the International Maritime Organization to coordinate with Gulf countries to deploy high-intensity search-and-rescue teams and establish a single-window coordination mechanism for the families.The union warned that more than 70 hours had passed since the attack and that every additional delay was reducing the chances of finding the missing sailors alive.
