All 22 crew members of MV Suez, stranded off Oman, were taken aboard a Pakistani warship Babur, which will take them to Oman’s Salalah port. They include six Indians.
Confirming this, director-general of shipping Satish B. Agnihotri said MV Suez was now unmanned and abandoned. The captain is believed to have scuttled the ship by opening its valves when it began taking on water. Fears were voiced if PNS Babur has enough fuel to reach Salalah.
The crew includes 11 Egyptians, four Pakistanis and a Sri Lankan. They will travel to Muscat from Salalah, and then home.
After running out of fuel, the crew sought assistance in refuelling or getting a tug to tow it to the nearest port. But as neither option worked, the captain and crew informed the ship’s Egyptian owners, and sought help. Not getting a positive response, they had no option but to abandon ship.
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India & Pak to discuss nuke CBMs
Age Correspondent
New Delhi
June 19: Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will review nuclear confidence-building measures with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir when the two hold talks later this week in Islamabad. During the June 23-24 dialogue India will also seek a “satisfactory closure” from Pakistan on the Mumbai terror attacks case.
These talks will pave the way for ministerial-level talks in New Delhi in July. India has made it clear it is ready to set aside protocol to host Pakistan’s 34-year-old minister of state Hina Rabbani Khar, now handling the foreign ministry in Islamabad after the departure of Shah Mehmood Qureshi in February.