Berhampur: An Odia engineer who is in quarantine for the deadly novel coronavirus aboard the ‘Diamond Princess’ cruiseliner off Yokohama coast in Japan has appealed to both the Odisha and the Central Government for his safe release from the detained ship.
The engineer was identified as Shivashish Nayak, son of Lingaraj Nayak of Pandra Sahi of this town. He is among the 138 Indians – 132 crew members and six passengers – who are quarantined in the ship for the last 14 days. His father has also appealed to the Odisha government and the Centre to facilitate in the release of his son.
The preventive measures adopted by the Japanese government has left him scared and depressed as the authorities are not allowing passengers to leave, Shivashish informed while talking to this correspondent over phone.
According to his father, Shivashish works as a software engineer at a Gurgaon-based IT firm. He and five of his colleagues boarded a flight for Malaysia on a company sponsored tour January 10. After finishing their work, they boarded they boarded the cruise ship from Vietnam.
However, during a check-up, one of the crew members out of a total of 3,700 people in the ship was found affected by coronavirus. The affected crew member was offloaded from the ship at Hong Kong, January 25.
The ship after arriving at Yokohama was detained by the Japanese government for a thorough check-up of all passengers for 14 days. Among them, more than 250 passengers and crew members have tested positive for the disease following which they were admitted to various hospitals for treatment. Three Indians have also tested positive for the disease.
Meanwhile, the US government has evacuated 340 citizens aboard the Diamond Princess. The Japan health ministry also allowed other old aged passengers to leave the ship, Wednesday.
Shivashish informed that out of the 138 Indians on board, three have been hospitalised as they have tested positive for the disease. However, the reports of the tests carried out on him and his friends have turned out to be negative.
Shivashish informed that it is a hostage-like situation on the ship. The passengers have been directed not to interact with each other and remain in isolation. He is wearing a face mask for 24 hours and is surviving on fruit juice and noodles. The isolation and lack of proper diet have left him mentally shattered.
PNN