Not wanting to take any chances, teams of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai police took charge of all the passengers on board Cordelia Cruise – including 66 passengers who have tested positive for Covid-19, as the the luxury ship returned and anchored at a passenger terminal in south Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
The BMC health officials, accompanied by a team of Mumbai police personnel, were waiting at the passenger terminal at Ballard Pier in south Mumbai with five 15 seat-seat ambulances, when the luxury ship arrived there at 6.30 pm from Goa. Shortly afterwards, the BMC officials transported 66 infected passengers through the green gate on board Cordelia Cruise to Covid care centre for treatment. “The positive patients have been given the option of staying in hotels at their expense,” a senior BMC official said.
More than 1,900 passengers, who had gone on a New Year revelry trip, have been asked to stay back on board the luxury ship, till they undergo RTPC tests and those who test positive will be quarantined either at them to institutional quarantine centre at the Richardson & Cruddas at Mazagaon in south Mumbai or asked to isolate themselves in the city hotels at their expense.
“The RTPCR testing will be done at laboratories. The RTPCR reports are expected tomorrow by 9 am. It is only after the test reports are received that the remaining passengers will be allowed to disembark from the ship. Those who test negative people will be stamped for 7 days home isolation. The passengers who test positive will either be sent to institutional quarantine or be asked to stay in isolation in paid hotels,” the BMC official said.
Meanwhile, the company operating the cruise M/s Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd claimed that several od the guests might have been infected before they boarded the ship for a New Year holiday cruise, while one of their crew members tested positive on Sunday.
In a detailed statement, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt. Ltd. CEO and President Jurgen Bailom said that after the sole infected crew member displayed mild symptoms, he was immediately isolated and then all the other crew and guests had to undergo Covid tests again.
“...the guests who have tested positive as of this morning (Jan. 4) were already infected with the virus prior to boarding. However their tests showed otherwise, hence they were permitted on board,” Bailom said.
Bailom said that there are several similar incidents on flights and trains which were ‘unfortunate and unexpected’ despite everyone taking utmost care, and the Cordelia Cruises’ extreme pro-activeness in conducting the RTPCR tests.
Bailom said that his company was ‘compliant’ with all regulations of the Director-General of Shipping. “All crew members and guests have to compulsorily undergo a RT PCR test 48 hours prior to boarding the ship, even if they are fully vaccinated,” he said.
This is the second occasion when Cordelia Cruise has hit the news headlines for the wrong reasons.
It may be recalled that on the night October 2, 2021, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha and five others were initially detained on the night of October 2 and later arrested on October 3, after the NCB officials busted a rave party and seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of MD (Mephedrone), 21 grams of Charas, 22 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) and Rs 1.33 lakh in cash from Goa-bound Cordelia Cruises' Empress ship, off the Mumbai coast. Subsequently, 12 more persons were arrested in connection with the mid-sea rave party.