Rice, dhal and unanswered distress calls: Death of a mariner onboard Celestial Sea

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 X/@ANI

Family of Indian seafarer Nishanth Uirthanathan seen successful Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. Photo: X/@ANI

His sanction was Nishanth Uirthanathan. In Tamil, his past sanction means helium is idiosyncratic who has travel backmost to life, a notation to Jesus Christ.

On June 11, Uirthanathan, a 35-year-old 2nd serviceman connected M.T. Celestial Sea, died onboard the ship. He is not going to travel backmost to life.

Uirthanathan’s location code is listed arsenic Theresepuram successful Thoothukudi—a neighbourhood of hardy fisherfolk for whom righting a capsized vessel astatine oversea is routine. But, Uirthanathan died of sheer weakness.

With 16 Indian unit members, including the maestro of the ship, 1 Pakistani electrical officer, and 1 Indonesian cook, Celestial Sea’s problems encompass astir everything that Indian seafarers person faced successful the struggle portion successful the past two-and-a-half months: Depleting supplies, problems with owners, distress calls not being attended to, rationing of nutrient and water, agelong stressful days successful the warfare zone, and the U.S. Navy’s hostile manoeuvres.

No aesculapian assistance was offered to Uirthanathan adjacent though helium laic suffering for much than 3 days, not acold from Oman’s Duqm port. The maestro of the ship, Capt. Devendra Yadav said the serviceman started vomiting and aboriginal stopped eating. Though helium seemed to get amended briefly, helium subsequently collapsed and died.

All this time, the unit members were sending urgent messages to whoever would listen, including the Marine Rescue Coordination Committee, the manager of the vas Romana Shipping Company, and Duqm larboard authorities who seemingly told him helium had to get an cause to look aft these things.

Three days earlier the 2nd officer’s death, the institution advised the maestro to sail to Shinas, Oman, truthful supplies could beryllium arranged. But the skipper refused.

The vas was boarded by the U.S. Navy connected May 19 portion astatine Khor Fakkan and ordered to permission and spell to Duqm, 400 nautical miles distant from the Strait of Hormuz, helium said. And the skipper didn’t privation to spell backmost into the country wherever the U.S. Navy had marked him out.

In shipping, agents are disposable astatine each larboard to instrumentality attraction of specified emergencies arsenic good arsenic put supplies, facilitate unit motion off-on and truthful on. The vessel manager delayed successful uncovering an cause astatine Duqm, said Capt. Yadav.

A chopper evacuation was promised arsenic Uirthanathan was inactive alive, but that didn’t travel either. In Capt. Yadav’s opinion, Uirthanathan died due to the fact that of nutrient poisoning, but helium didn’t hide to adhd that the full unit had been subsisting astir exclusively connected atom and dhal for galore months present – nary vegetables nor meat.

Maritime rules crossed the satellite specify a healthy, balanced and nutritious fare for seafarers who execute physically tiring and exhausting enactment each day. There are nary Sundays onboard a ship, nor Diwali oregon Id.

After Uirthanathan died, his assemblage laic decomposing for different 3 days successful the unit recreation room. The emaciated unit recorded a video and tried to nonstop it retired to gully attraction to their ordeal. On Sunday nighttime (June 14, 2026), Duqm larboard authorities asked them to travel successful truthful that Uirthanathan’s assemblage could beryllium removed.

Celestial Sea is simply a 20-year-old tanker that tin transportation 11,500 tonnes of cargo. It has changed names 8 times and sailed nether arsenic galore flags, arsenic per Equasis. MarineTraffic says it is Aruba-flagged.

The vessel had near Singapore astir a period and a fractional agone and its ordeal is not yet over.

Published - June 16, 2026 09:54 p.m. IST

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