The Goan Network
PANAJI
Goan crew members presently onboard ‘Karnika’ cruise liner have written a letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant asking him to help them get back home at the earliest.
The letter signed by 93 Goans, who are among the 490 crew members presently onboard the cruise ship docked at Mumbai Port since March 12, requests Sawant to arrange for buses or coaches to Mumbai in order to bring them back home since the interstate movement of people has resumed in a structured manner.
Through the letter, the crew members informed that Karnika’s last operational trip concluded at Dubai on March 5, where all 124 passengers disembarked. In view of the outbreak of Coronavirus, the ship sailed back to Mumbai without any passengers, reaching on March 12. “Upon arrival at Mumbai Port, all the crew members were medically cleared by the seaport Public Health Office,” the letter states.
Thereafter, the cruise management chose to take the ship to the outer anchorage of Mumbai Port and enter a period of self-imposed quarantine to abide by the Covid-19 regulations of Government of India. The 14-day self quarantine ended on March 26, two days after the 21-day nationwide lockdown began.
The letter explains that on their part, the cruise owners have been making frantic attempts to disembark the Indian crew members aboard the ship. As a result, the ship was allowed to touch the cruise terminal on March 31. But owing to the suspension of all means of transport, only 133 crew members, who lived in the vicinity of Mumbai were allowed to disembark. Since then, around nine American and British crew members have also been repatriated.
“Our cruise ship has not had a single suspected case of Covid-19 onboard till date let alone a positive case since the outbreak last year. Moreover, no crew members (who were approximately 650 during the operational voyages) onboard Karnika have ever shown any symptoms of coronavirus from the time of its outbreak till date,” the seafarers wrote while also enclosing a certificate from the onboard hospital doctor to this end.
Concluding their plea for help, the seafarers informed that while they have dissuaded their family members from flocking to meet CM Sawant in person, the families are anxiously awaiting their safe return in such troubled times.
WHAT THE
LETTER SAYS
*All crew members medically cleared by seaport Public Health Office
*14-day self quarantine period of the ship ended on March 26
*No suspected case of Covid-19 onboard till date
*No crew members (approximately 650) have ever shown any symptoms of Coronavirus
*Onboard doctor has also certified this, they say
