Cargo mishap Indian victims belonged to Goa, TN and Punjab

Dubai, July 8 (UNI) The three Indians who lost their lives in Thursday's freighter mishap in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Horn of Africa, belonged to Goa, Tamil Nadu and Punjab respectively, a company source said.

Source in the Dubai-based Hufoofa Cargo and Clearing Company, which owned the ship, said the deceased were Sachindra Kamat from Goa, Shanakar Narayan from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and Kuljeet Kattal, believed to be from Punjab.

Kuljeet died after he was admitted to a hospital in Aden, the capital of Yemen, after being rescued by the coast guards along with 13 others. The captain of the ship Mohammed Mursal from Somalia also lost his life in the tragedy.

Among other victims two were from Myanmar and one each from Somalia and Tanzania.

The ill-fated vessel known as 'Mar Yam' was carrying 5,000 tonnes of cement and was sailing towards Zanzibar islands near Kenya after starting from Salala in Oman in the last week of June.

The ship sank near Socotra, a Yemeni island about 170 miles northeast of the Somalian tip of Africa and 600 miles east of the Yemeni port of Aden, The Gulf Today reported.

The victims were working as regular crew members except the Goan who was employed as a cook in the ill-fated ship which sank in the Indian Ocean due to rough weather conditions.

Kamat was working with the company since 2004 and others were recruited just a year ago. They were about 25-years of age.

Company sources said the ship might have sunk last Friday itself as they spoke to the captain for the last time at around 2300 hrs in the night.

''We lost contact with the ship from Friday night. It was only on Sunday that we came to know of the sinking of ship from our sources in Yemen,'' said a company representative.

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