NEW DELHI, June18:
Chhattisgarh Government has sought help from External Affairs Minister S M Krishna for securing safe return of 17 Indians who have been held captive for over three months by pirates near Somalia.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, in a letter to Krishna, has sought his “personal intervention” for ensuring release of Preetam Kumar Sahu, a native of Rajnandgaon district of the state who was working as an engineering cadet in the Shipping Corporation of India Ltd, and 16 others.
The Chief Minister has attached a letter by Lokdas Sahu who said that his son Preetam was sailing from Dubai to Nigeria on MT Royal Grace, a Panama flag vessel on March 1 which was hijacked near Somalia.
Sahu has said that 17 Indians are struggling for life owing to shortage of drinking water and food.
“This issue is of serious humanitarian concern and therefore, I would like to seek your personal intervention in this matter to ensure survival and safe return of the 17 Indians including Preetam Kumar Sahu,” Singh said in a letter written to Krishna.
“A word from you will make me highly obliged and will certainly reassure an anxious and worried (Preetam’s) father,” the chief minister said. (PTI)
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