Supreme Court Urges Diplomatic Efforts to Locate Missing Seafarer in Black Sea Incident

Supreme Court Takes Action on Missing Seafarer Case

New Delhi: On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of External Affairs to utilize its diplomatic resources to locate a seafarer who has been missing since July 25, when his cargo ship was attacked by drones in the Black Sea.

A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, instructed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to gather information from the Indian Embassy in Ukraine and the Indian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, regarding Deepak Kumar Gupta, who was aboard the MV AGN Ragnar.

The case is scheduled for further discussion on Friday.

This action follows a petition filed by Sandeep Kumar Gupta, the elder brother of the missing seafarer, who requested the Ministry of External Affairs to coordinate with the Indian embassies in Ukraine and Romania for search and rescue efforts.

Gupta's plea was prompted by the family's repeated attempts to reach out to the Union of India and the Indian embassies in both nations, which went unanswered.

The petition highlighted that the family had contacted the Ministry of External Affairs and the embassies between July 26 and July 30, but received no response or assurance.

Deepak Gupta, a 22-year-old seafarer, went missing after the merchant vessel he was on, which had Indian crew members, was attacked near the port of Odesa in Ukraine.

Family members revealed that Deepak, originally from Siwan district in Bihar, had been living in Bharataul village in Bareilly district for several years while working on the MV AGN Ragnar.