The directorate general of shipping has sent an investigator to Russia to look into the MV Rezzak case.
MUMBAI: The directorate general of shipping has sent an investigator to Russia to look into the MV Rezzak case.
The cargo ship had mysteriously disappeared on February 18 in the Black Sea, off the Turkish coast. The DGS had earlier announced that the ship had sunk. In the backdrop of the ‘sinking’ theory, relatives of the 25 missing crew have questioned the move to send an investigator now.
DGS officials, however, said there was a need to investigate the ground realities and find missing links, if any, at the Russian port. Rezzak was last seen leaving Novorrossiysk port in Russia for Bartin in Turkey.
“The ship had left for Bartin after going through necessary technical checks. Also, it was at Novorrossiysk that the cargo consignment was loaded on to the ship. So, we should find out if something went amiss there,” said DGS senior marine consultant captain Amarjit Singh Chaddha.
Relatives of missing crew still believe that the ship has not sunk. “We don’t believe in the words of the DGS. We had demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter,” said Uma Mohan whose brother was Rezzak’s chief engineer.
The DGS official who left for Russia on Tuesday had spent almost two weeks in Turkey. While he was there, the DGS on March 14 announced that the ship had sunk after leaving Novorossiysk. The DGS had also thought of a possible maritime fraud, in which ships are deliberately sunk to recover insurance money. Rezzak was carrying Russian steel billets worth more $3 million when it went missing.
Cyrus Mody of the International Maritime Bureau in London had told DNA a few days after the disappearance that his agency had not found any remains of the ship despite intensive searches in the sea.
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