Panaji: All the 93 Goa seafarers who are on board cruise ship ‘Karnika’ which is currently docked at Port of Mumbai has written to State Chief Minister Pramod Sawant seeking his help in their repatriation.
Last week, State government had refused to accept their request of disembarkment at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) claiming that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs will take call in regards to the issue of Seafarers.
In a letter written to the chief minister on Monday, the 93 out of total 450 seafarers, who are Goans, have sought his intervention in assisting their repatriation back home.
“Our ship has not had a single case of COVID-19 infection suspect till date, let alone a positive case since the outbreak last year. Moreover, no crew member on board Kanika has shown any symptom of Coronavirus from the time of the outbreak,” the letter reads.
The crew members have attached certificate of on-board hospital doctor with the letter certifying their claim of not suffering from any suspected symptoms. The ship is currently docked at Port of Mumbai.
They have informed that the cruise ship had its last operation on March 01, 2020 when they sailed from Mumbai to Dubai with 124 passengers on board.
“The ship reached Dubai on March 05 and all passengers disembarked at Dubai. In view of the COVID-19 situation, the ship owner/operator decided to bring the ship back to Mumbai without any guest,” the letter reads.
The ship reached Mumbai on March 12 after which all the crew members were medically cleared by Seaport Public Health office, he said.
However, in light of various restrictive travel advisories and in order to support Government of India’s impetus to curtail spread of COVID-19, as a precautionary measure, the owner/operator of ship decided to take it to outer anchorage of Mumbai as self-imposed quarantine, the letter reads.
