By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Months back, Jindal Steel and Power Limited Chairman and former MP, Naveen Jindal had appealed to Union Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Embassy in Beijing, for safe return of Indian sailors of the Swiss-Italian ship, MV Anastasia, who have been stuck in the Chinese waters for more than a year, and finally, they are returning to Mumbai on Sunday.
JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal, had then offered to buy the coal in the ship.“This is heartening news. After being stuck on their ship for months, our sailors are finally coming back home. Can’t imagine the relief they (and their families) must be feeling,” JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal tweeted @MPNaveenJindal on Sunday morning.
On January 8 this year, JSPL Chairman had appealed for safe release of Indian sailors. “This is a humanitarian crisis: 39 Indian sailors stranded at Chinese ports for months; were carrying coal from Australia to China.We are ready to buy the coal on these ships if it can help bring our sailors back home. #SaveOurSailors @MEAIndia,” JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal had earlier tweeted @MPNaveenJindal. JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal had also tagged the Ministry of External Affairs in his Tweets.
The ships had arrived during an ongoing trade war between China and Australia, leading China to ban the import of Australian coal. These two ships had been carrying the same cargo. However, vessels from Russia, Canada, and Europe have since been permitted to offload their Australian coal and depart. The 39 sailors had been left to their fate without much support from the central government, and their families are struggling to get them back.The families of the Indian sailors, mostly based in the Indian state of Maharashtra, had been appealing to different government offices but with no help in sight.
