By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS
Dubai : The Indian embassy in Bahrain has expressed serious concern over shipping operations in the region following capsize of an Indian vessel off the Bahrain coast.
“This is actually the third time such an incident involving an Indian vessel has happened and we are really concerned,” India’s Ambassador to Bahrain Balkrishna Shetty told IANS over phone from Manama.
The 1,000-tonne capacity Siddnath was shipping about 485 tonnes of rice to Iraq for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) shipping company, when it capsized off the Bahrain coast under strong winds Friday.
The Bahrain coastguard rescued all 17 Indian sailors on board.
“We are awaiting a report from the Bahrain government regarding the incident and we will then act accordingly,” Shetty said.
Asked what exactly he was concerned about, Shetty said, “We want to know whether it was slackness (on the part of the ship operator) or whether the vessel was seaworthy or not. If not, we want to know why it was allowed to leave the shores.”
Appreciating the Bahrain government’s action in rescuing the sailors, he said that efforts are being made to send the crew members back to India.
“All of them lost their travel documents during the mishap. We have issued them emergency travel documents and helping them fly back to India as soon as possible,” Shetty said.
“We are awaiting the (UAE-based) agent to come here so that all the formalities for their return can be completed.”
He said that officials of the embassy have met the sailors, who have been provided shelter at the coastguard headquarters in the island of Sitrah in northeastern Bahrain.