22-year-old-sailor was about to board a flight home to Chennai early this month.
Abu Dhabi: The body of a 22-year-old Indian sailor has been lying in a mortuary in Sharjah for two weeks and his family is still in the dark about their son’s sudden demise, XPRESS has learnt.
“We do not know what happened to him. He was supposed to come home on October 3. His company has not even bothered to inform us about his death until now,” Ravi Selvam, brother of deceased Anbarasu Selvam told XPRESS over the phone from Chennai, India.
According to the family, Anbarasu joined the ship Al Majed H under the Dubai-based company Majeed Al Bazony Shipping as a trainee marine engineer on May 14. He was employed on a one-year contract.
Anbarasu informed his family on October 2 evening that he was going to Chennai on an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah the following morning.
“That was the last we heard from him. He was already at Sharjah Airport, but sounded very disturbed. He told me the company was sending him back due to some health reasons,” said Selvam.
Worried family:
The family grew worried when Anbarasu did not arrive in India, and he remained unreachable on his phone. On October 6, a friend of Anbarasu in Dubai informed them that he had passed away at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Sharjah.
“We received the news from one of Anbarasu’s friends named Dinesh Ashok Kumar who is in Dubai. Until now, his company has not informed us about his death. Neither have we received a death certificate stating the cause of his unexpected demise. My parents are still in a state of shock,” said Ravi.
When XPRESS contacted Kumar, he said Anbarasu was hospitalised after he collapsed at Sharjah airport while waiting to board the flight.
“He was admitted to the Kuwaiti Hospital and was in the ICU when I visited him on October 4 and 5. I don’t know what happened exactly. Medical staff told me he had tuberculosis,” said Kumar who works at the Sharjah Free Zone.
According to him, Anbarasu passed away on October 6, reportedly of a stroke. “By the time I reached the hospital, his dead body had already been moved to the mortuary. And hospital staff later informed me that a company representative had collected the death certificate,” said Kumar.
A company representative told XPRESS that they were also unaware of Anbarasu’s death until Kumar informed them.
“We were under the impression that he had already left the country,” said the company official. He maintained that the company could not be held accountable as Anbarasu’s visa was already cancelled and the passport handed over at the airport.
Humanitarian grounds
However, he added that the company is helping the family on humanitarian grounds and will be sending the body to India as soon as they get a clearance from the Indian consulate.
Meanwhile, Sailors Helpline, an organisation that looks into the welfare of Indian seafarers, has approached the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to expedite the process.
Manoj Joy, the national coordinator for the Helpline in India, told XPRESS that Anbarasu’s family is moving a petition in the Madras High Court against the company that has failed to even intimate the family about an employee’s death.
“It has been almost two weeks and we are still waiting for my brother’s mortal remains. That is the least my parents can hope for a closure,” said Selvam.
CREDITS: thanks GULFNEWS
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