India urges Iran to restart search for missing Indian sailor

India has urged Iran to restart its search operations in order to trace Indian sailor Aayush Chaudhary, who has been missing in Iranian waters since July 15, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar informed.

New Delhi: In a bid to ramp up efforts to find the Indian sailor Aayush Chaudhary, who went missing in Iranian waters on July 15, India has urged Iranian authorities to restart their search operation.

Chaudhary went missing from a Dubai ship on July 15 in Iranian waters. The Indian sailor's family were told by the firm which he worked for that he accidentally fell off the ship and had been swept away by a wave.

During the weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We are certainly aware of the case. Even our mission is in knowledge about this. We have established contact with Director-General of port and maritime organisation."

"We have urged them to restart their search operation as they had stopped it after they were not successful in tracing him. We have also asked them to increase the radius of their search operation," he added.

After receiving a distress call from the vessel in which Chaudhary was onboard, Iran dispatched a helicopter and two boats for the search and rescue operations. However, they carried out the operations only till July 17.

Read: Indian sailor missing in Iranian waters, kin urges govt to probe