Grace 1 tanker seizure: High Commission team meets Indian crew

New Delhi has been making serious efforts to secure the early release of Indians on the seized tanker.

New Delhi: In a major effort for early release of Indians on seized Iranian tanker off Gibraltar, Indian High Commission team on Wednesday met with 24 Indian nationals on board VLCC Grace 1 tanker.

Minister of State for External Affairs, Vellamvelly Muraleedharan tweeted, "HCI_London team met the Indian crew/staff on board VLCC Grace 1 yesterday. Crew’s morale is high. Assured all assistance for early release. HCI London will facilitate necessary travel document and related arrangements."

• @HCI_London team met the Indian crew/staff on board VLCC Grace 1 yesterday. Crew’s morale is high. Assured all assistance for early release. HCI London will facilitate necessary travel document and related arrangements. @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AmitShah @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/xEMsJpNeDo

  — V. Muraleedharan (@MOS_MEA) July 25, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  @HCI_London team met the Indian crew/staff on board VLCC Grace 1 yesterday. Crew’s morale is high. Assured all assistance for early release. HCI London will facilitate necessary travel document and related arrangements. @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AmitShah @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/xEMsJpNeDo

  — V. Muraleedharan (@MOS_MEA) July 25, 2019

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  @HCI_London team met the Indian crew/staff on board VLCC Grace 1 yesterday. Crew’s morale is high. Assured all assistance for early release. HCI London will facilitate necessary travel document and related arrangements. @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AmitShah @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/xEMsJpNeDo

  — V. Muraleedharan (@MOS_MEA) July 25, 2019

Earlier, Muraleedharan had assured that Indian crew members of seized Grace 1 tanker are safe.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "What we saw was that the crew members were very calm, very composed, and there was no sense of panic. They had been in regular touch with their family members. We had assured them that the government of India will undertake all the necessary steps to ensure their early release and repatriation."

New Delhi has been making serious efforts to secure the early release of Indians on the seized tanker.

On July 4, British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian tanker with Indian crew onboard over breaching European Union sanctions by carrying oil to Syria.