Kin seek govt help to trace ship crew missing in Pacific

Giridhar Kumar (25) of Solapalayam near Pollachi had joined just six months ago as a third-grade officer at Admiral Marine Ltd in Indonesia. He was part of a 26-member crew of Indian nationals in Emerald Star, a cargo ship, which sank in Philippines a week ago. 

The ship was heading to China from Indonesia, when the tragedy happened on October 13. “My son spoke to me a week ago before the ship’s sail began. We couldn’t reach out to the ship firm for any developments,” said Subramaniam, who is working in Cotton Cum Silk Handloom Weavers Co-Operative Production and Sale Society Ltd. 

Giridhar was married to Uma a year ago and the couple has a monthold girl baby. Though the ship management passed on the message of missing Giridhar Kumar to his family members, there was no further communication about the search operations. 

The family members of Giridhar have sought the intervention of Collector to help them trace their missing son.

Of the 10 missing crew members, including the master captain of the cargo ship Emerald Star that sank off Philippines last Friday, five of them are from Tamil Nadu. One is from Port Blair who is of Tamil origin, shipping industry sources said here. 

The six missing Tamils are residents of Chennai, Madurai, Pollachi, Thoothukudi and Port Blair, sources added. At Pollachi, Subramaniam, father of Giridhar Kumar, third officer of the ship, who is in the list of missing crew, told reporters on Tuesday that he was informed that his son was missing. “After that we have not received any other information from anybody,” he said. 

The ship Emerald Star, captained by Nair Rajesh Ramachandran, with 25 other Indian crew members, was sailing from Hong Kong carrying nickel ore to Japan when it sank in the Pacific Ocean due to bad weather in typhoon hit sea. Japan’s 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Naha, Okinawa, received an emergency call from the Emerald Star around 2 am local time on Friday. A total of 16 Indians were rescued from the ship while others are missing.