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8 Indian sailors stranded on ship off UAE coast for months cry out for help

News Network
January 13, 2019

Hyderabad, Jan 13: Eight sailors from India have literally been shackled to the sea at the Sharjah anchorage and have urged the government to get them out of a ship which has practically been abandoned.

There are 10 sailors onboard the ‘M V Azraqmoiah’, including one from Sudan and another from Tanzania. Among the eight Indian sailors, Ramesh Gadela and Yalla Rao Chekka hail from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The other Indians have been identified as Capt Ayyapan Swaminathan, Bharath Haridass and Gurunathan Ganesan from Tamil Nadu, Alok Pal from Uttar Pradesh, Naskar Sourabh from West Bengal and Rajib Ali from Assam.

The ship was detained by the UAE coast guard on April 15, 2016 and the passports and seaman books of the sailors were confiscated. “It is as if we are slaves who have been abandoned. We are living pathetic lives and are unable to return home as we have not been given a sign off by the management. Our salaries are also pending for several months,” Captain Ayyapan Swaminathan told TOI on phone.

“We need help to return to our country,” Ramesh said in a video. The video has been forwarded to the authorities concerned by Shaheen Sayyed, a human rightsdefender working with ‘Justice Upheld’, an international humanitarian organisation.

In the recent Gaja cyclone in Tamil Nadu, Capt Swaminathan’s family suffered a huge loss as their house was destroyed. “My family managed to stay alive. But I have not been able to send them any money,” he said.

The sailors were recruited by Mumbai-based Rassiya Shipping Services Private Limited, Oath Marine Services Private Ltd and Krishnamrutam Enterprises Pvt Ltd. The ship’s management, Elite Way Marine Services, Abu Dhabi, has run into financial issues and thus, the crew are not being paid. The crew is said to be suffering from health issues too. They are getting limited provisions from the Consulate General of India, Dubai, which the crew allege are insufficient. The Federal Transport Authority of UAE has banned the ship’s commercial operations. “Everyone knows about our plight but we are still suffering,” Ayyapan rued.

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News Network
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: A heart-broken father who lost his 19-year-old son in a tragic car accident during Christmas last year has sponsored the repatriation costs of 61 Indians stranded in the UAE.

 The special flydubai repatriation flight, chartered by the All Kerala Colleges Alumni Federation (Akcaf) volunteer group, of which he is a member of, departed from Dubai to Kochi on July 25 carrying 199 passengers.

 On this particular flight, I sponsored 55 air tickets," said TN Krishnakumar, a sales and marketing director. He had lost his son Rohit Krishnakumar in a car accident, which also claimed the life of the teen's friend, Sharat Kumar (21).

"All passengers who were registered with the Indian missions were also asked to register on the Akcaf volunteer group website. Each passenger was further vetted, after which we made home visits to ensure that all the applicants were genuinely in need of financial support and repatriation," he said.

Commenting on what inspired him to dedicate himself to community work, Krishankumar said: "When a situation like this comes up, you realise there is no meaning in money. I invested everything I made into my son, and that had crashed in front of my eyes. He was a third-year medical student at the University of Manchester in the UK and had returned home for a vacation when the accident took place. Since then, I have been involved in a lot of social activities. If I do not do this, there is no meaning to my existence."

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Krishnakumar said the group has supported thousands of individuals in need of help. "We supported unemployed people with several hundred bags of grocery kits and other necessary items. We also supported Covid-19 patients by transferring them to the medical facility in Warsan, etc.," he said.

"I come from a very middle-class family. I got a scholarship to study in college, and I studied with the help of taxpayers' money. I have always wanted to give back to society. I have grown immensely in life and now is my time to give back.," he added.

Krishnakumar also sponsors the education of over 1,000 academically gifted school children in Kerala's government-aided schools. He is a life trustee at the College of Engineering Trivandrum Alumni Galaxy Charitable Trust and an active participant towards various educational causes.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Dubai, Jan 8: Iranian state television said on Wednesday that at least 80 "American terrorists" were killed in attacks involving 15 missiles Tehran launched on US targets in Iraq, adding that none of the missiles were intercepted.

State TV, citing a senior Revolutionary Guards source, also said Iran had 100 other targets in the region in its sights if Washington took any retaliatory measures. It also said US helicopters and military equipment were "severely damaged".

Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 8,102 and the number of cases climbed to 2,86,579 in the country after it registered the highest single-day spike of 357 fatalities and 9,996 cases till Thursday 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of recoveries remained more than the active novel coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day.

The number of active cases stands at 1,37,448 while 1,41,028 people have recovered and one patient has migrated to another country, as per the data.   

"Thus, around 49.21 per cent patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 357 new deaths reported till Thursday morning, 149 were in Maharashtra, 79 in Delhi, 34 in Gujarat, 20 in Uttar Pradesh, 19 in Tamil Nadu, 17 in West Bengal, eight in Telangana, seven each in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, four in Rajasthan, three each in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka, two each in Kerala and Uttarakhand, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh.

Out of the total 8,102 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,438 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,347 deaths, Delhi with 984, Madhya Pradesh with 427, West Bengal with 432, Tamil Nadu with 326, Uttar Pradesh with 321, Rajasthan with 259 and Telangana with 156 deaths.

The death toll reached 78 in Andhra Pradesh, 69 in Karnataka and 55 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 51 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 52 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 33 from Bihar, 18 from Kerala, 15 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and eight from Jharkhand.

Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have registered six COVID-19 fatalities each, Chandigarh has five while Assam has recorded four deaths so far. Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to the ministry's data.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the ministry's website stated.

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