shipsailor search

Panamian cargo vessel MV Rezzak with 25 Indian crew is missing since February 18. The ship carrying cargo of steel billets left Novorossiysk, Russia on February 17 to Turkey through Black Sea.

Intensive search by the International Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) is going on for the last six days and the ship or crew could not be located. However, a life raft from the MV Rezzak was spotted drifting about five nautical miles off the coast of Turkey. The deadline for searching is February 25, and it is feared that the ship has sunk and the crew are dead due to bad weather.

The vessel, managed by CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret of Turkey, was manned by Mumbai based company Pelican Marine. The website of MRCC, Black Sea, Turkey is found to be hacked.

Click here to know further details and the list of missing Indian crew.

Update:February 26

Pelican Marine Private Limited, is blaming the captain of MV Rezzak for the Black Sea tragedy. Click here to read more.

Update:February 29

MV Rezzak is still missing. It is incorrect to say that vessel has sunk. DG Shipping, India has commenced a probe on the missing vessel. Indian Government is planning to send an observer to coordinate search operations.

There is another school of thought coming regarding the missing vessel. Is it a Maritime Insurance Fraud ?

Update: March 02

Search and Rescue team have found a life raft, life jackets, tarpaulins, gas cylinders, sea survival kit, buoys and lifeboats of the vessel. Click here for more details.

Update: March 04

India did not rule out the possibility of pirate attacks. An Indian official is expected to reach Turkey on March 06 for further coordination and investigation. Click here to read more.

Update: March 08

Piracy angle is widening. Click here to read more.

Update: March 09

MV Rezzak was not seaworthy. How the ship sailed then from Russian city of Novorossiisk ? Click here for more details.

Click here to read the views of Bob Couttie from Maritime Accident Casebook.

Update: March 10

Pelican Marine, the manpower agency of the ship has issued letters to the families of the ships crew that the crew are feared dead. Click here to read more.

Update: March 15

According to an interim report given by Indian official who went to Turkey to probe, it was likely that MV Rezzak had sunk due to bad weather. Click here to read more.

Update: March 20

Families of the ships crew have submitted a memorandum to Maharashtra Human Rights Commission (MHRC) to intervene and initiate further search operations to find out the missing crew. Click here to read more.

Update: April 20

Ministry of Shipping approaches Interpol to locate missing crew. Read more from sify.

Update: April 29

Mr Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) MP asked the government to seek interpol help to trace missing crew. Read more from webindia123.

Update: May 01

DG Shipping says the vessel ignored bad weather and advice of another vessel in the vicinity. Further says piracy and fraud angles can not be ruled without locating the missing ship. Read more from indianexpress.

Update: June 11

India has received the preliminary report of investigation from Marine Casualty Investigation branch of the Panama Maritime Authority. The report seems to be a routine report and nothing significant is available. Read more from The Economic Times.

Update: June 25

India has approached the IMO and its members to initiate all necessary measures, including underwater search and survey to locate MV Rezzak. Read more from The Indian Express.

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