Mumbai:In a heart-wrenching development, five Indian sailors -- stranded in Iran for 18 months -- have appealed for help to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar, to return home. Harbouring dreams of a better future for themselves, the five youngsters -- all holding valid qualifications and documents -- had flown to Iran to join merchant navy ships in 2019, through an Indian agent.
They are: Aniket S. Yenpure, 29 and Mandar M. Worlikar, 26, (both Mumbai), Pranav A. Tiwari, 21, (Patna), Naveen M. Singh (New Delhi), and Thamizh R. Selvan, 31, (Chennai). However, while sailing on the high seas off Oman in February 2020, the five were unknowingly trapped in a treacherous maritime narcotics smuggling racket, leading to their arrest, jail and even after being acquitted in the case, they are still grounded in a foreign land for 18 months.
In India, their frantic family members have written several letters to the Prime Minister, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Iranian authorities there and in India, the Indian diplomats stationed in Iran for intervention, but to no avail. "As events unfolded after February 2020, little did these boys realize that not only their dreams would be shattered, but they would also be imprisoned and kept away from their families in India," rued Aniket's distraught father in Mumbai, Sham Yenpure.
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From mid-2019, all the excited youngsters -- on their maiden sea-jobs -- were doing their duties enthusiastically till one 'black voyage' in February 2020 on a ship, 'MV Artin10', owned by an Iranian, Razaee Mukkadam which literally changed the course of their lives. The ship's master, Capt. M. Rasool Gharebi took them on board for a series of long voyages lasting around 6-7 weeks, sailing from Iran to Kuwait, Muscat (Oman) and other ports, delivering different types of cargo.
"On the afternoon of February 20, 2020, Capt. Gharebi suddenly ordered the ship to stop in the high seas and drop anchor, around 140 kms from Muscat. A few hours later, another vessel came and unloaded what appeared to be small 'rice-bags' on our ship," Aniket Yenpure told IANS from an unknown location around Chabahar.
Since this mid-sea cargo transfer was illegal as per international maritime laws, Worlikar and his co-crew quietly recorded it on their mobile phones -- as evidence for the Customs and Iran Police authorities at the next port. Unexpectedly, the very next morning (February 21, 2020), an Iran Navy ship intercepted and arrested them all on the high seas and transferred them to the naval ship.
During interrogation, Capt. Gharebi admitted that "the Indian crewmen were innocent and had no knowledge of the illicit cargo transfer operation" which he master-minded in the high seas. At one point, the Captain attempted suicide by stabbing himself, but since the navy ship was near the small Konarak Port, rushed to hospital and survived.