The five Indians were on board MV Andromeda when the Greek Coast Guard chose to punish them.
More than 14 months after their ship was detained by Greek authorities on the charge of carrying explosives and they were put behind bars, five Indian sailors returned home on Sunday.
The five Indians were on board MV Andromeda when the Greek Coast Guard chose to punish them. Despite proving that the cargo contained only raw material for firecrackers, the five men had to do time at the overcrowded Korydallos Prison Complex.
The ship had set sail from Turkey on January 6, 2018, and was headed for Djibouti when it was sent to the Greek coast for repairs.
While the explosive material was legal, local authorities did not go through the documents that the Greek shipowner had, said Bhupendra Singh, one of the crew members, in Mumbai after their return.
His colleague Rohtash Kumar said they were fortunate to have been back after being trapped for an offence that they never committed. He said, "We thought the case will take decades to wind up. We saw the most disturbing days of our lives in jail where inhuman treatment of detainees is a daily routine. I would like to thank the Indian High Commission, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Maritime Union of India for helping us out."
Kumar said he is keen to join the ship back. "But before that, I would like to spend some time with my family members in Mathura."
Another crew member, Gagan Deep, who is from Bengaluru, said jail authorities informed them that they were the first Indians to be lodged in the jail since it was built in 1953.
Gagan Deep said he had not been paid for the last 23 months. The sailor said Pakistani inmates of the Greek jail often comforted them when they felt down and low. The other two crew members are Jaideep Thakur and Satish Patil.
The Maritime Union of India is going to file a case in a Greek court against the local Coast Guard for compensation for the Indian seafarers since they were put through great trauma without any fault of theirs.
The crew members will meet officials of the Union Shipping Ministry on Monday and apprise them of the entire episode.
Amitabh Kumar, Acting Director General of Shipping, said the Directorate General of Shipping was following up on the matter with the Greek government through the Indian embassy.
(With inputs from PTI)
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