Remains of Indian killed in UAE tanker fire repatriated

A rescue boat puts out fire that occurred on an oil tanker off Hong Kong's Lamma Island (Photo: IANS)


The Indian Consulate in Dubai has repatriated the mortal remains of one of the two Indians who were killed in a fire onboard an oil tanker off the coast of Sharjah on January 29.

The mission announced on social media that the mortal remains of Shiva Naga Babu were sent to Andhra Pradesh on Thursday morning, reports Gulf News.

The second victim was identified as Basudeb Haldar.

Speaking to Gulf News, Consul General of India Vipul said: “We are expecting to repatriate the mortal remains of Basudeb Haldar to his hometown in West Bengal by tomorrow (Friday).”

Besides Babu and Haldar, two other Indians had gone missing after the deadly fire on board the unloaded oil tanker 21 miles off the coast of Sharjah.

Their bodies were retrieved on February 2 but were yet to be identified.

Vipul told the Gulf News that the mission was awaiting DNA test reports from the local authorities to establish their identities.

There were 12 crew members and 44 technicians on board when the fire erupted. They included Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Ethiopian and other undisclosed nationalities.

All Indian crew members were technicians hired by a Fujairah-based company to do maintenance work on the vessel bound for India where it was due to be scrapped.