Team Herald
PANJIM: Goan seafarers on the cruise ship Marella Discovery pressed the panic button on Tuesday, as the ship currently docked at Mumbai will sail to Europe on Wednesday evening. A group of worried Goan crew members released a video message on Tuesday with a desperate appeal to the government to bring them back without further delay.
“The ship is sailing back to Europe on Wednesday evening. We have just one day left. What will happen if any of us get infected in Europe? The government is delaying to get us back to Goa,” a seafarer said in the video.
Another Goan crew member was heard saying that they have been stranded for 40 days and urged the media to highlight their issue. “You (government) get us back to Goa or get our dead bodies,” the crew said.
This was before the Standard Operating Procedure was released by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It also led to the Opposition slamming the government’s inability to bring the mariners back to their home State.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat had requested the Prime Minister’s Office to take up the issue before too late. “Respected @PMOIndia, let us not disown our own Indians specially when they are in distress. Our own Goan seafarers now in Mumbai waters are pleading to be back in their Motherland. Urge @drSJaishankar, @goacm to act before it’s too late,” Kamat had tweeted.
This was followed by another tweet wherein Kamat said that he interacted with AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik, who conveyed that the Home Ministry and Ministry for Shipping are working closely to disembark the Goan seafarers from Marella Discovery. “Positive solution expected very soon. Request all not to panic and pray for their safe return,” the opposition leader said.
Goa Forward Party (GFP) president Vijai Sardesai had taken a dig at the government for its empty promises on the return of the Goan crew stranded in the ship. “How distressing it is to be abandoned by one’s own State! These are our Goemkar brethren who are crying for help, and so far govt (government) has had nothing to offer but some draft plans, posed photos and bombastic talk on TV about COVID free Goa. Act Now,” Sardesai had tweeted.
Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco had written to CM Sawant requesting to follow up with the Central government on the evacuation of all 174 seafarers on board Marella Discovery that includes Goans.
Lourenco had said that he had received a call from a Goan seafarer on board the ship who narrated their woes and said they are in panic, as they have not been evacuated for the past 40 days despite the cruise liner being in Indian waters.
“He also highlighted that for these past 40 days they have been safe as they have quarantined themselves to keep the infection of coronavirus away from themselves. The said sailor painted a poignant picture stating that they have a mental fear that they may get infected if the ship leaves for Europe from Indian waters,” Lourenco said.
