A sailor from Odisha has gone missing in the gas tanker explosion in the sea off the coast of Russia on January 21. He is Siddharth Meher (24) of Sambalpur town.
Siddharth was among the six Indian sailors, who are still missing after two fuel ships carrying Indian and Turkish crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait. He was among 15 crew members on board the ship ‘Maestro’. He is the only son of PPL Regional Manager Satya Narayan Meher and Gitanjali Meher. An alumnus of Chennai-based Indian Maritime University in Nautical Science, Siddharth was posted in Turkey after joining a Mumbai-based Nimbus Maritime Services Private Limted.
Two vessels the Candy and Maestro were carrying total 32 crew members. Both were flying Tanzanian flag. While 17 crew members including nine Turkish and eight Indians were on the Candy, the Maestro had 15 crew members. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another was a tanker. The fire broke out when one of the ships exploded during a gas transfer, setting another vessel ablaze in the sea. The search operation is underway to trace the missing Indian sailors. The Indian Embassy in Moscow is in constant touch with the concerned Russian authorities to get updates.