“The Marine Rescue and Co-ordination Centre (MRCC), Turkey, has indicated that the ship has sunk, which is now again being informed to the families. With all the reports and statements coming in from MRCC and the Directorate General of Shipping’s office, we can only indicate that the ship and the crew became a victim of the weather conditions with the strong gale toppling it with force,” said Santosh Biswas, director, Pelican Marine.

Biswas said the insurance company responsible for crew insurance, British Marine, has contacted the Pelican Marine, giving the first indication of the “limited possibility of finding anyone alive.”

According to an earlier press statement issued by the office of Director General of Shipping, providing information from the MRCC, only a life raft was found and “with nothing else found belonging to M V Rezzak, the search and rescue operations have been called off on February 23”.

Sources said a request has been made for the resumption of the search.

The International Maritime Bureau, Kuala Lumpur, has said that the location near Turkey where the ship went missing is not known for marine piracy. “We have been informed by the officials that they have appealed to the flag state and coastal authorities at that end to look for any further development, even though the official search and rescue has been called off,” Biswas said.

Relatives of the sailors were waiting at the Pelican Marine office till late Monday afternoon to get updates. Among them was Harish Sharma, whose cousin Pritam Singh was sailing aboard MV Rezzak. Uday Chauhan, young brother of Hriday Chauhan (29) who had joined as a mechanic, also had to return without getting any update.

‘He wanted to return home’
This could have been the last overseas assignment for electrical officer Pritam Singh (46), who was working on the M V Rezzak. Singh, a native of Ponta Saheb tehsil in Tirmur district in Himachal Pradesh, wanted to return home.

“He was being offered the post of manager in a company and so he decided to leave the overseas job as he could spend more time with his family,” says his cousin Harish Sharma, a former Navy man and a sales manager in Lonavla. Pritam had last met Harish in Lonavla on November 20 before boarding the bus.

Pritam’s family includes wife, daughter Baljeet who has cleared her standard XII exams and 10-year-old son Robin. “He is the only earning member of the family” says Harish.

Pritam was an electrical officer in the Indian Navy and retired in 1994. In 1996, he went to Nigeria for a year as an electrical officer where he worked with a petroleum company. In 2005 that he entered the shipping industry.