KOLLAM: Even three weeks after a 21-year-old youth from Kollam went missing on a ship that sailed from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the relatives still remain clueless. Abhinand Yesudasan hailing from Perumpuzha in Kollam was working as a pipe fitter in a company in Sharjah in UAE for the last three months and was on an official trip on the ship when he went missing. Abhinand is the younger son of Yesudasan Anthony and Fancy Yesudasan of Jerusalam Cottage, Vanchimukku, in Perumpuzha. The family got a message from his parent company in Sharjah that he had gone missing on March 21. They contacted him last on March 17, when he said his co-workers had tortured him mentally.

Abhinand was working with Aries Marine LLC in Sharjah. The relatives also contacted the Sharjah police seeking their intervention when the ship ‘Berlioz’ reached Khorfakkan port in Sharjah on March 29. “The Sharjah Police informed us that the ship was registered in France and the flag hoisted on it was of Bahamas. It has no connection with the UAE and the missing incident took place outside the boundary of UAE, and that they could not interfere. The parent company also informed us that they had not received any report from the captain of the ship regarding the missing sailor,” Abhinand’s elder brother Abhilash told DC.

The family also suspects foul play in Abhinand’s disappearance but his three Keralite co-travellers who were with him claimed that he had gone to the toilet inside the ship, and went missing after that. They said they went in search of Abhinand only after two hours, which raises doubts, Abhilash said. He also alleged Abhin was tortured in his room in the ship by these fellow travellers. According to the authorities, the Egyptian Navy had initiated a rescue operation, but could not trace Abhinand. The relatives had also given complaints to the External Affairs Ministry on the disappearance, but did not elicit any results.