The Indian marine engineer missing after a merchant ship was attacked by Iran off the coast of Oman has been confirmed dead, his family said on Wednesday.
Herambh Karmarkar was declared missing on Sunday after a strike on commercial vessel GFS Galaxy, which was bound for Dubai and had apparently crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
The strike sparked a fire in the engine room and the anchor was dropped as the crew abandoned ship. Ten Indian sailors were later rescued from a lifeboat by the Omani Navy but engineer Mr Karmarkar was not among them.
Vevek Tandon, Mr Karmarkar’s father-in-law, told The National that the family had received the news from the shipping company.
“We received a condolence message from the company saying that Herambh is no more," he said. "We are all in a bad state after receiving this news. Now we just want Herambh back to complete his last rites.”
Further attacks have followed this week. Two UAE supertankers – MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa B – were hit by Iran in the early hours of Tuesday while transiting through the strait, killing one and injuring 12, four of them seriously.
The UAE Ministry of Defence said the tankers were attacked in the southern lane of the strait while in Omani waters and the dead crew member had been on board the Mombasa.
The UAE government condemned the strike as a "brazen attack" and a clear breach of UN Security Council Resolutions.
The secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation said on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz remained too dangerous for commercial vessels to transit.
“I will maintain the message of upholding international law, for countries to do the same thing and for companies — at this stage, particularly with the volatility — not to take risks to transit through the strait of Hormuz,” Arsenio Dominguez said on Bloomberg Radio.
Mr Karmarkar’s father-in-law told The National on Tuesday that his son-in-law had been on his final assignment with the ship.
“It was a five-month contract for Herambh on this ship, and he had planned to sign off in Dubai this week and come back to Pune," Mr Tandon said.
“Only a parent will understand what this feels like, only a person who has lost someone they love dearly will know what we are going through."
Safely crossed Strait
The family last heard from Mr Karmarkar on the morning of the Iranian attack. “Crossed the strait … safely,” was the last message he sent his wife, at 2.49am on July 12.
“His last message was from the engine room,” Mr Tandon said. “We also know he was last seen in the engine room by another crew member who was rescued.”
India has an estimated seafarer workforce exceeding 300,000, one of the world's largest. Abhijeet Sangle, working president of the All India Seafarer and General Worker Union, said sailors deserved more protection.
“These sailors are doing their work, they are doing a job that is necessary and they are being hit,” he said. “Many seafarers do not want to go near the Strait [of Hormuz]. Before they sign up, they ask if the voyage will take them near the strait. We have emergency lines they can call for help.”
