Kumar Prashant

Patna, Feb. 21: Nine days have elapsed since cargo vessel MV Shinin was hijacked in the waters of North Arabian Sea and the government has kept mum on any possible rescue initiative, putting the families of hostages on the edge.

The four families living in four different corners, whose loved ones are presently held hostage by the Somali pirates, have got in touch and are exchanging information which they get among themselves.

They have no choice till date. The ministry of external affairs (MEA), the shipping directorate and the Union shipping ministry have come back to them with anything concrete.

Patna-based Kumar Prashant is just one among them. Calcutta-based Partha Pratim Bhahma is too in the ship apart from Mumbai-based Vinod Kumar Khanna and Goa resident Thomas Pereira.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today said the state government will surely take up the matter with the Union government.

“The central government must take concrete steps to ensure the release of the crew members on board the cargo vessel. The state government will ask the Centre to take strong steps fast,” Nitish said.

Kumar Nishant, the younger brother of Prashant, was a troubled man. “Till now, I just don’t know anything. The authorities are mum. My father wanted to go to Raj Bhavan today but he is not well . Why aren’t the authorities saying as to what steps they are taking?” he said.

When The Telegraph today contacted Shelly Das, the sister-in-law of Partha, a resident of New Alipore in Calcutta, she said: “We handed over a letter to the minister of state (shipping), Mukul Roy, and he asked us to send a copy of the same to the Centre. We are in the process of doing the same now,” she said. Partha is posted as a radio-cum-administrative officer in MV Shinin.

“Nobody from the government has come back to us yet. It is a very tense situation for us. Partha has got a 12-year-old daughter,” she said over the phone.

Equally anxious was Ramesh Khanna, the father of Vinod. A resident of Gadodia Nagar in Ghatkopar (East) of Mumbai, Khanna said he had sent a correspondence to the MEA and the shipping ministry but was yet to get any reply. “S.M. Krishna, the minister for external affairs, has to take action. I have sent letters to the Iranian ambassador in Delhi and the Iranian consul in Mumbai,” he told The Telegraph. Danaida, the wife of Goa-based Thomas Pereira, said she was scared.

The Telegraph contacted Captain Khurana, the proprietor of Pacific Ship Management, the recruiting company for Irano Hind Shipping Company, which owns the vessel, he said certain steps were being taken. “Nothing happens in a hurry,” Khurana said.