By IANS,
Mumbai : At least 29 sailors, stranded for nearly three months without food and water aboard an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai, will be evacuated soon, a top maritime authority said here Thursday.
The directorate general of shipping said that the rescue operations would commence by Saturday to bring back the stranded sailors on board M.V. Pratibha Tapi as many are ailing and need urgent medical attention.
The ship had been ordered to remain off Mumbai since Oct 18 last year as the immigration formalities of many of the sailors had not been completed by the ship’s owners, the Pratibha Shipping Corporation.
According to official sources, the Pratibha Shipping Corporation is reportedly facing major financial constraints preventing it from paying the necessary fees to complete the sailors’ immigration formalities.
Family members of the stranded sailors had been making repeated pleas for evacuating them from the stranded ship. The decision of the DGS came following a marathon meeting held here Thursday with the families.