28-yr-old crew member disappears from oil tanker hours after speaking to family; kin reject claims he jumped into the sea
A 28-year-old Indian sailor has mysteriously gone missing in international waters off Sri Lanka, leaving his family searching for answers and refusing to believe claims that he may have jumped into the sea, indicating that he took his own life.
Prasoon Singh, who was working aboard the Benin-flagged crude oil tanker MT Berg 1, disappeared on April 22 shortly after the vessel departed from Galle Port in Sri Lanka en route to the United Arab Emirates. His younger sister, Sakshi Singh, filed a missing complaint at Mumbai’s Yellow Gate Police Station on April 30 after days passed on with no information on his whereabouts.
According to the ship’s captain, Singh allegedly jumped off the vessel. However, his family has denied this version, insisting there were no signs that he was distressed or suicidal.
Further, coast guard officials reportedly conducted search operations in the area, but all efforts to locate the missing sailor proved unsuccessful. The vessel itself is said to have carried out a 72-hour search in international waters, yet no trace of Singh was found. As per information, Singh was carrying two mobile phones at the time of his disappearance — both of which are now missing.
Singh had been in regular contact with his family residing in Mira Road and had spoken to them just hours before he went missing. “Prasoon spoke to us at around 6:00 pm on April 22, and the conversation was completely normal. There were no signs of stress or instability,” said Sakshi. “But as per the company’s statement, he did not report for dinner at 8:00 pm the same day. What could have gone wrong in just two hours?” she questioned.
While the family denies any visible distress, sources from within the company suggest that Singh had earlier written to his employer requesting to be signed off from duty. In his letter, he cited his mother’s poor health and said she was hospitalised. He also reportedly mentioned that he was “mentally and physically exhausted” and urged the company to arrange a reliever at the earliest.
Despite this, his relatives maintain that he never indicated anything alarming during his conversations with them. “From March 11 to April 19, he was actively working onboard and remained in regular contact with us. He had no known health issues. Everything seemed normal,” Sakshi said.
Singh had joined the vessel on March 11 after travelling from Mumbai to Bengaluru and then to Colombo. He was employed under Oshiwara-based Unaone Shipping Management.
The company informed Singh’s parents about his disappearance a day later, stating that he had gone missing at sea. Prasoon’s parents, devastated by the sudden turn of events, are reportedly in no condition to speak. An officer at Yellow Gate Police Station said, “We have registered a missing complaint and will inform the DG Shipping to seek their help for any further update on this complaint.”
With no concrete evidence and conflicting narratives, the disappearance of Prasoon remains an unsettling mystery, raising serious questions about what truly transpired onboard the vessel that night.
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