Lockdown: 93 Goan seafarers onboard ship seek Sawant's help

Panaji, Apr 13 () Over 90 Goan seafarers on board acruise ship currently docked at Mumbai have sought help fromGoa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for their repatriation.

The Goa government last week decided not to allow theseafarers to enter the state in view of the coronavirusthreat, after they requested for disembarkment from the ship.

It said the seafarers from Goa will have to followcoronavirus-related quarantine protocol before they areallowed entry into the state.

In a letter written to Sawant on Monday, 93 Goanseafarers out of the total 450 on board cruise ship 'Karnika'sought his intervention in assisting their repatriation.

"Our ship has not had a single case of coronavirus ora suspect till date since the disease outbreak last year.Moreover, no crew member on board Karnika has shown anysymptoms of coronavirus, they said in the letter.

Along with the letter, the crew members attached acertificate of an on-board doctor, to assert their claim ofnot suffering from any suspected symptoms.

They mentioned that the cruise ship had its lastoperation on March 1, when it sailed from Mumbai to Dubai with124 passengers on board.

"The ship reached Dubai on March 5 and all passengersdisembarked at Dubai. In view of the COVID-19 situation, theship owner/operator decided to bring the ship back to Mumbaiwithout any guest, said the letter.

The ship reached Mumbai on March 12, after which allthe crew members were medically cleared by the seaport publichealth office, it said.

However, in the wake of various restrictive traveladvisories and in order to support the government's impetus tocurtail spread of COVID-19, as a precautionary measure, theowner/operator of ship decided to take it to an outeranchorage of Mumbai as a self-imposed quarantine, the letteradded. RPSGK GK