Deonandan Prasad Singh, a 55-year-old seafarer from Mumbai who died in a tanker attack near Basra in Iraq earlier this week, was not scheduled to sail and was on an office-based role when he was asked by his company to board the vessel, according to his family.
Singh, who lived in Kandivali, had taken on a shore-based position that did not require him to travel at sea. However, relatives say he was asked by Mumbai-based Bravo Ship Management to join the tanker MT Safesea Vishnu shortly before the voyage.
“He had an office job which did not require him to sail. But this time the company asked him to go on the ship. We do not know the reason. Some people are saying the shipping company was understaffed and needed an extra hand, but we do not have clarity from the company yet,” said Pravin Singh, his wife Kumkum’s maternal uncle.
Singh died on March 12 after an explosive laden speedboat rammed the tanker during ship-to-ship cargo loading operations off Khor Al Zubair Port near Basra. According to the Directorate General of Shipping, the vessel, carrying around 48,000 metric tonnes of naphtha, caught fire after the impact.
Crew members abandoned the ship and jumped into the water before being rescued by a nearby tug. The Iraqi Coast Guard later evacuated 28 crew members, including 16 Indians and 12 Filipinos and transported them to safety near the Port of Basra. Singh was the only crew member who died in the incident.
A seafarer for more than three decades, Singh had recently reduced his sailing assignments so that he could spend more time with his family. “He had been sailing for over 30 years. Recently he had cut down on sailing because he wanted to be with his family more,” Pravin said.
Deonandan Prasad Singh
Singh left for work on February 24 this year. Despite working at sea for much of his career, he remained closely connected with his family and spoke to them frequently.
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“Every day he used to video call his children, wife, mother and brother in Bhagalpur. He never told them about any problems because he did not want them to worry,” Pravin said.
The family’s last conversation with Singh came in the early hours of March 12.
“At around 2.30 am he called his wife and told her that the ship was on fire. After that we never heard from him again,” Pravin said.
Soon after the call, Kumkum alerted relatives. The family spent the next several hours anxiously following news reports and trying to contact the shipping company.
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“We kept watching the news, trying to call the company. We kept telling ourselves it cannot be our Deonandan,” Pravin said.
Around 11 am that day, the family received the official call confirming his death.
Singh is survived by his wife Kumkum, a son, a daughter, his mother and a brother. His mother and brother live in Bhagalpur in Bihar, where Singh grew up. His wife has not been in a condition to speak since the news of his death reached the family.
The family is now in Delhi, waiting for Singh’s body to be brought back to India so that the last rites can be performed.
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“We have heard that the process has begun there. A death certificate has to be prepared in court and then there will be clearances from authorities. They have told us that his remains have been found, but we have not been clearly told what kind of injury he suffered,” Pravin said.
Singh’s son, who had been in Japan on a university exchange programme from his university in the United States, returned to Delhi on March 14. His daughter, a medical student in Nagpur, also rushed home the same day.
Both children are in their early twenties and Singh was the sole earning member of the family.
Officials from the Directorate General of Shipping said the remaining crew members have not yet returned to India and there is no official confirmation on when Singh’s body will be brought.
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Safesea Transport Inc, headquartered in Miami, owns the ship, while its technical and crew manager is Bravo Ship Management Pvt Ltd, headquartered in Mumbai. The Indian Express reached out to both the companies, but they did not respond.
