Lucknow: A 36-year-old worker from UP’s Ambedkar Nagar has gone missing after a passenger boat carrying workers capsized in a rough sea during a storm in Maldives on July 31.Five days after the incident, Rajeev Chauhan’s family has no information about his whereabouts. They have now appealed to central govt for intervention and help in tracing him.Rajeev, a resident of Makarahi Dhuswa village in Ambedkar Nagar, had recently moved to Maldives to work as a stone and tile installer.His wife Aarti said Rajeev reached Mumbai on July 18 and then flew to Maldives on July 22 after securing a job with a construction company. He was working at a site there before the accident occurred.Rajeev last spoke to his family over the phone on July 30. On July 31, his elder brother received a call informing him that a boat carrying workers, including Rajeev, to another worksite had overturned in the bad weather. While eight passengers were rescued, Rajeev and one more person remain missing.“We have been told that local authorities in Maldives are conducting a search operation, but there has been no update about my husband,” Aarti said.Rajeev’s father, Ram Awadh Chauhan, said the family has been unable to establish contact with his company after the accident. “We have appealed to the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of External Affairs and the district administration to coordinate with the Maldivian authorities and speed up the search. If my son is safe, he should be brought back to India at the earliest,” he said.The disappearance has left the family devastated. Rajeev’s mother, Chandrawati Devi, made an emotional appeal, saying, “Someone please bring my son back. If he is alive, bring him home safely.”Rajeev is one of five brothers. One of his brothers works in Dubai, while Rajeev had earlier worked in Saudi Arabia as a tile installer before accepting employment in Maldives. His family members have been making continuous efforts to gather information about him since the accident.Rajeev has two minor sons.
