Odesa missile strike victim: Deoria sailor's body finally reaches India

The mortal remains of 22-year-old Abhishek Nishad, a sailor from Deoria who was killed in a missile strike on a cargo ship near Ukraine's Odesa port, reached India on Sunday — 34 days after the incident.

Nishad's body, along with that of Akhil Joyan from Karnataka, was brought to India via Moldova. After landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, his relatives departed for his native village of Karmel in Deoria at around 8 am, a representative of the shipping company, Pratigya Tripathi, said over the phone.

Nishad had been working as a crew member aboard the cargo vessel Golden Leo. According to Tripathi, he travelled to Mumbai from Varanasi on July 10, then went on to board the ship on July 11 after transiting through Turkiye. The vessel, which was carrying cargo bound for Makkah, came under missile attack near Odesa port on July 19, killing several crew members, including Nishad.

Nishad's body was severely damaged in the strike and could not be identified through standard procedures because the victims were of similar age, the company representative said. His identity was subsequently confirmed through DNA testing after the samples were matched. His remains were transported from Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv to Chisinau International Airport in Moldova before being flown to New Delhi. The shipping company has arranged an ambulance to carry the body from Delhi to Karmel, where it is expected to arrive late Sunday.

Tripathi said a total of four Indian crew members were confirmed killed in the July 19 missile strike near Odesa. She added that the delay in repatriating Nishad's remains had been flagged to Union Minister of State Kamlesh Paswan by the Ministry of External Affairs.

With DNA testing and other formalities now complete, Nishad's body is finally being brought home to his native village, 34 days after his death, family members said.

(With inputs from PTI)