Mozambique boat tragedy: 2 Kerala crew members among 5 still missing; families wait with bated breath

48 hours after the disappearance of 22-year-old Indrajith Santhosh from Kerala, in an offshore boat tragedy near Mozambique's Beira Port on Thursday, a second person from the state was reported missing on Saturday.

Sreerag Radhakrishnan (35), who hails from the Naduvilakara village in Kerala's Kollam district, is now among the five Indian nationals who went missing after a launch boat belonging to Scorpio Maritime Management India Pvt Ltd capsized enroute to a tanker.

The launch boat tragedy, which reportedly took place due to rough weather in the early hours of Thursday, has also killed three Indians. 

Sreerag, who has been working on ships for nearly ten years, was an electro-technical officer—part of a 21-member Scorpio Maritime crew (including 14 Indians) sent to inspect an oil tanker named the 'MT Sea Quest'.

His disappearance leaves behind a distraught Jeethu (his wife), and their two children, a six-year-old daughter, and a six-month-old son.

"The Indian Embassy and the company have been in touch with us and are sharing updates. But the rough sea is making it difficult to locate the sunken boat," Sreerag’s uncle told OnManorama.

This comes two days after the disappearance of Indrajith Santhosh, a hull inspector at Kochi-based Aries Marine & Engineering Services, who was brought onto the Scorpio Maritime crew by means of a special arrangement with a Mumbai firm.

The 22-year-old from Kerala's Piravom area had left home with his father (a ship maintenance worker) earlier this week—his father travelling to South Africa, and Indrajith to Mozambique.

Indrajith's colleague Akash, who had travelled with him to the eastern African country, is now safe, as he had swum to safety after he was thrown off the boat when it capsized on Thursday.

With the wreckage of the launch boat identified at a spot deep underwater—near the Beira Port—it is a painful wait for the families of Indrajith, Sreerag, and the others, as India's Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian High Commission in Mozambique collaborate with the concerned agencies in the rescue operations.