Two aspiring seaman taken for a ride by teacher

Dubai, Aug 4 (UNI) Two aspiring seamen from a Cochin-based institute, who were brought here to train on a cargo ship, have accused their teacher and an agent of dumping them in a small ferry.

Yesudas B and Pramod P, after spending a month on a small Iranian ferry, were finally sent back to India last night after they threatened to file a police complaint, Gulf News reports.

The two recently completed the Pre-Sea GP Rating course from the School of Seamanship and Nautical technology in Cochin.

They had come here to complete the nine-month training course, mandatory to obtain a Government of India certificate to work as a seaman.

Joemon Varghese, a teacher at the institute had sent them to Dubai promising them international exposure on a world-class cargo ship.

Yesudas and Pramod said they had to pay Varghese Rs 1,60,000 to obtain the visa.

''Students from India, Sri Lanka and Philippines are brought here and promised world-class training but are then dumped,'' they said.

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