Sambalpur: The parents of Siddharth Meher who went missing after two cargo vessels caught fire in the Kerch Strait off Black Sea coast, Thursday wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) seeking help.
The 24-year-old’s name appeared in the list of the sailors who were missing since Monday after the fuel ships carrying Indian and Turkish crew members caught fire.
Russian authorities have launched a search operation for the missing sailors in the Strait which separates Russia from Crimea.
“I have sent a mail to the MEA besides the Moscow Embassy. I have also talked to the authorities of Nimbus Maritime,” Siddharth’s father Satyanaryana said.
The young sailor is the only son of Satyanaryana Meher, the regional manager of Paradip Phosphate Limited (PPL) and Geetanjali Meher.
Satyanaryana further said he had received a call from the Moscow Embassy Wednesday evening confirming that his son was missing and that a search operation was on.
The embassy also assured him of providing an update about Siddharth, Satyanaryana said, adding that he had managed to contact two of Siddharth’s friends, who were in the ship when the incident took place but was yet to get any satisfactory answer.
“I had talked to Siddharth over WhatsApp on the day of the incident. He said that he was fine. But after the incident, we are only surfing the Internet to know his whereabouts,” the sailor’s mother said.
Siddharth had joined Nimbus Maritime which caters to maritime and offshore industry in May 2018 as a deck cadet, his parents said.
At least six Indian sailors were killed and an equal number of them went missing in the incident.
While one of the ships called ‘Candy’ was carrying liquefied natural gas, the other called ‘Maestro’ was a tanker.
Siddharth was a crew member in ‘Maestro’, his family members said.
PNN/Agencies