New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said it had sensitised and alerted several countries in the region about a missing vessel that had sailed from Kerala more than five months ago.
However, the Centre is yet to receive any information from them, said ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
The vessel, named Deva Matha 2, had set off from Munambam in Kerala’s Ernakulam district on January 12. The Kerala Police investigation team had earlier said there were about 243 people on board.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Kumar confirmed the vessel had set sail from Kerala. “We were told by the state government that it was heading into the Pacific (Ocean). We sensitised the countries in the region,” he said. “We did not receive any information from any country we had informed of the same.”
According to many whose family members are missing, 85 children were on the boat. A birth certificate and CCTV visuals accessed earlier by News18 showed that a 12-day-old baby was also on the boat along with the parents.
In the last five months, family members of those missing have united and approached several authorities — they have sent a joint memorandum to the home ministry and the external affairs ministry, written to the Delhi Police, chief minister and even the National Human Rights Commission. The memorandum lists the names and addresses of all those who are suspected to have been on that boat. However, they have not received a response so far. The family members next plan to meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
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