Staff Reporter
Port Blair, Jan 16:The mystery behind disappearing of Andaman’s cargo vessel MSV Our Lady of Vallankannie has deepened further as the new developments indicate that the vessel might have been high-jacked by pirates. The cargo vessel with seven crew members aboard and 360 MT of cargo is missing from Andaman waters since 15 December 2014. The Andaman and Nicobar Police, Coast Guard and Indian Navy are already searching for the vessel in every possible area since then.
But on 20.12.2014 Mr. Theophil Kongari, a resident of Mayabunder, North Andaman a friend of the Master of the missing vessel Mr. Xavier Kaithan received a call on his Airtel mobile from an unknown number +22569880995 and allegedly a brief conversation took place between him and the master of the missing ship.
Immediately he rushed to the DySP (Diglipur) and shared this information and requested him for assistance.
Efforts were made by police to call up this number repeatedly, however the number could not be reached.
The Call Detail Report of Airtel mobile no. 9933252574 of Theophil Kongari was obtained which revealed that a call was made to his mobile from an Ivory Coast mobile number.
“This information has been shared with Director General Shipping, DIG, CBI, Interpol and Intelligence Bureau (IB) for ascertaining the details and whereabouts of said mobile number and to conduct extensive search operations of the missing vessel,” a release by Police Department said here today.
A section of officials believe that the vessel might have drifted towards Eastern or Southern Africa, where ships face great threat from Pirates but no officials are ready to come in record.
Meanwhile, extensive search is being carried out by the Coast Guard Ships & Aircraft. The Coast Guard has activated International Safety Net to alert all transiting ships to keep a sharp lookout for the vessel.
“Efforts are being made to locate the missing vessel and crew members by Police and Coast Guard with the help of other agencies,” the release added.
