Pratibha Cauvery’s two life boats were dead three months ago!

Chennai:

The two life boats of the ship Pratibha Cauvery did not function and the boat which the 22 sailors used to reach ashore had a faulty engine for the last three months.

The crew members at Fortis Malar Hospital said one lifeboat had a faulty engine and the other did not have drain plug to drain out water. This was one of the reasons for the 22-member crew to face hardship in reaching the shore.

Interestingly, of the 22 sailors only 17 reached ashore of which one died. The others are recuperating at the hospital.

The pain could be seen in Rupak Kumar Mishra’s voice as he narrated the how the crew struggled to cling on to the lifeboat which hardly have any engine and was facing the might of rough seas which even Pratibha Cauvery could not face.

The Oriya from Puri, who has a two-day old son, recounted his nearly three hour ordeal in the boat. “The boat immediately capsized. And five of us clung onto it for three hours enduring the 15-feet waves. With no hope of rescue, the waves brought us closer to the shore. It was only when we hit the sand, the fishermen came to our rescue,” he said.

The radio officer said that the crew had pinned their hopes on the tugboat, which was to be provided by Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS). It did not arrive due to choppy sea. “At the instructions of the captain we boarded the lifeboat,” he alleged.

Interestingly, what was more puzzling was that the contract of some of the crew members have already expired and many were not paid their salaries.

Deck cadet Sarath of Calicut, said that while he was onboard he was not paid the salary for five months. When Express contacted the management in Mumbai, they said that their concern was to rescue the crew members before talking about the compensation. “the rescue operation is still on,” said a official of the company that owns the ship. What was more shocking was that none of the management people visited the recuperating crew in hospital. “It is as if the management has abandoned us,” said a crewmember.