These days at a modest home in Horana, a woman is praying for the safe return of her younger brother who worked as a deck hand on a foreign-flagged container vessel and she refuses to accept that the young Seafarer is no more after he was swept overboard while sailing on choppy seas near Spain and remains missing without a trace and is feared dead.
Demuni Chirath Sandaru Nilumindya De Silva was on his maiden voyage as an Ordinary Seaman on the Portugal flagged cargo vessel-Santuca B when he fell overboard at a location known as Las Palmas during poor weather and despite rescue and search operations there was no trace of the youngster as the ocean swallowed him.
But the family is refusing to accept his fate and remain suspicious on the events surrounding his disappearance and is insisting that a thorough investigation be carried out in this regard at the very earliest and have reached out to the authorities, the recruiting agent and local and international maritime trade unions.
NUSS President Palitha Atukorale
ITF Inspector Ranjan Perera
The sister of the missing Seafarer Chenadi de Silva said that somewhere down the line the real truth behind her brother’s fate is being held back and said that the recruiting shipping agent Mercmarine should do more towards this end.
She told the Sunday Observer that officials at Mercmarine had made several contradictory statements on her brother’s fate that has fuelled suspicion and anxiety among the family.
She said that the Mercmarine officials gave different versions of the time and location when her brother is believed to have gone overboard and that their claims did not tango.
According to Silva, the shipping agent had at first said that the incident took place around 2.30pm Spain time and that a search and rescue mission started some four hours later.
Then later they said that the search operation started minutes after the alarm of ‘man overboard’ was announced and it lasted a full 24 hours.
Later we were told by the agent that the search operation began after the vessel’s engineer had witnessed her brother being washed away into the sea, but his whereabouts could not be traced.
Mercmarine said that the company had verified reports made from stakeholders in Spain and elsewhere and that the family was informed accordingly.
“We are dealing with the matter according to international maritime procedures and what has to be done in the future will be done”, Lalith Ekanayake of Mercmarine said.
He said he cannot comment on the allegations made by the Seafarer’s family simply because it will be out of protocol.
However, we have cooperated with the family in every way possible, Ekanayake added.
Director General Merchant Shipping Ajith Wijesinghe said that the matter is being investigated at the highest level and that a report was being awaited from Spain.
“I cannot go into details on the incident but the matter is being probed according to the requirements of international maritime laws regulations”, he said.
However, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) believe that the incident took place owing to the negligence on the part of the crew management.
A senior ITF official of the Canary Islands Gonzalo F. Galan had boarded the vessel and spoken to the crew and believe there was negligence somewhere down the line, ITF Colombo Inspector Ranjan Perera said.
“The ITF in Spain has kept Colombo updated on the investigations being carried out on the incident”, Perera said.
According to the crew members, they were summoned by the Chief Officer to the bridge and instructed to proceed to the main deck to ensure that all doors were properly closed and sealed. They reported encountering bad weather with waves entering the vessel’s deck, making the assignment quite perilous, Perera added.
This inspection was done shortly before the Sri Lankan Seafarer went overboard, he said.
The ITF is an international transport workers trade union with a membership of some 18 million members with affiliates in 147 countries including Sri Lanka.
The National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka (NUSS) was also closely monitoring the incident and has also spoken to the missing Seafarer’s family in a bid to provide whatever assistance that is needed, NUSS President Palitha Atukorale said.
“The NUSS is working closely with the ITF and other stakeholders to ensure that a thorough probe is carried out into the incident where a young life has been lost,” Atukorale said.
