Two passengers on the Mercy Mission ship MV Captain Ali, ex-SLMM monitor Kristjan Guðmundsson of Iceland and Uthayanan Thavarajasingam, a Tamil volunteer from United Kingdom, have sought chief minister M Karunanidhi’s intervention as Indian immigration officials blocked their departure to their home countries through Chennai.
According to sources, the ship’s local coordinator had arranged air tickets for their departure via Chennai’s international airport twice in the last 24 hours, but immigration officials blocked the move by declining to issue temporary visas to facilitate their visit to the airport.
Agni Subramaniam, local coordinator for the ship, said, “Immediately after docking in the Chennai Port by Thursday evening, we tried to get the consent of the immigration officials about the passengers’ return journey since they were desperate to get back to their countries.”
“They assured us with temporary visas for both since they were just passengers in the Mercy Mission ship, but by Friday evening, they backtracked and said that they have to be with the ship till unloading of relief materials gets over,” he added.
Speaking to Express from the ship, Uthayanan said, “I appeal to Chief Minister Karunanidhi to intervene on behalf of us, since we have travelled for almost two months in rough sea conditions and now want to get back home.”
Kristjan too needs to travel immediately as his uncle died on June 23 from a long illness in Iceland.
Captain Ali has been sold to a Kolkata-based businessman and she will start for Kolkata in the next few days.
However, the fate of Kristjan and Uthayan is still unclear since they cannot travel along with the remaining crew up to Kolkata as they were just passengers.
Immigration officials were not available for comment.
Meanwhile Mercy Mission in its press release yesterday while thanking the Government of India for its intervention on making Sri Lanka to accept the humanitarian cargo of the MV Captain Ali, expressed hope that the two passengers will be allowed by the Indian Authorities to disembark as soon as possible so that they may return to their homes, families and jobs in Iceland and the UK.
Mercy Mission is also concerned over the continued detention without charge of Mr. Athmanathan, the Colombo based businessman who agreed to act as the consignee of the humanitarian relief by the Sri Lankan authorities. He was arrested on 4 June 2009 by the CID and remains in custody in Colombo. Mercy Mission request the GoSL to conclude its investigations and either charge or release Mr. Athmanathan, who has not committed any crime other than agreeing to act as the consignee of the humanitarian relief.
Full text of the Mercy Mission media release:
3 July 2009
MERCY MISSION SHIP UNLOADS IN CHENNAI
DAY 58: Unloading begins at 0700 hours
Mercy Mission is pleased that the MV Captain Ali berthed at Chennai Port at 19:25 (Indian Time) on 2 July 2009 and unloading of the humanitarian relief commenced at 07:00 on 3 July. The unloading is expected to take 36 hours as the Indian Customs is checking each pallet with metal detectors and sniffer dogs. Persons on board have stated that the following have boarded and inspected the crew and / or cargo : Customs , ‘Intelligence’, Immigration, Police, and the ‘Bomb Squad’.
After customs clearance the relief will be handed over to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) who will in turn send it on to Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) for distribution to the internment camps in the North of the Island.
After 57 days at sea, 20 of which were spent waiting outside Chennai Port and 4 of which were spent outside Colombo in the custody of the Sri Lanka Navy, it is a relief to have the ship in port and unloading. We now hope that the two passengers, Mr. Kristjan Gudmundsson (ex-SLMM monitor) and Mr. Uthayanan Thavarajasingam (volunteer humanitarian worker), will be allowed by the Indian Authorities to disembark as soon as possible so that they may return to their homes, families and jobs in Iceland and the UK.Mercy Mission wishes to thank the Government of India for its intervention on 24 June 2009
when it prevailed upon the ( GoSL ) to accept the humanitarian cargo of the MV Captain Ali. Our only wish is that the GoSL would have reacted this way on 4 June 2009 and accepted the ship.On 4 June 2009, the Sri Lanka Navy intercepted the Mercy Mission ship in international waters and detained it until 8 June 2009 during which time the ship was throughly searched by the SL Navy and found to be carrying only humanitarian relief items. Despite this, the ship was turned away by the GoSL and the desperately needed humanitarian relief was not allowed to be unloaded in Colombo Port.
The denial of entry, with no valid reason given, has delayed for over one month the delivery of this food and medicine to the approximately 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). The delay, due to the GoSL’s actions, has also cost Mercy Mission a significant amount of money. These costs include: the journey from Colombo to Chennai, unloading in Chennai, container hire, repacking in containers, reloading of containers to new ship, transportation to Colombo and distribution to the camps.
Thanks must also go to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) for agreeing to take ownership of the cargo and arrange for the transportation of the humanitarian relief to the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) for distribution. Mercy Mission will no longer be directly responsible for the humanitarian relief but will still cover the costs of transportation and distribution as this was the condition under which IRCS agreed to take ownership of the humanitarian cargo.
Thanks are extended to the External Affairs Minister Mr. M. S M Krishna and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanidhi for their interventions. Mercy Mission also wishes to thank the many persons in Tamil Nadu and throughout the world who tirelessly worked to get the ship berthed. Our local volunteer representative, Mr. G. Subramanian Executive Director of Manitham, a Chennai based Human Rights Organisation, and his organization have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this mission.
The ship has finally docked in Chennai and this leg of the mission may be over but there is much work to be done. The unloading of the humanitarian relief must now be completed, the relief repacked in containers and then sent to Sri Lanka for distribution.
Mercy Mission is launching a 2nd Global Appeal for assistance to cover the costs of the next phase of this project.
Mercy Mission is also extremely concerned over the continued detention without charge of Mr. Athmanathan by the Sri Lankan authorities. Mr. Athmanathan is the Colombo based businessman who agreed to act as the consignee of the humanitarian relief. He was arrested on 4 June 2009 by the CID and remains in custody in Colombo. The GoSL has now agreed to allow the Indian Red Cross to transport into Sri Lanka the very cargo that Mr. Athmanathan is being detained over. In light of this fact we request that the GoSL conclude its investigations and either charge or release Mr. Athmanathan, who, in our view, has committed no crime other than to have agreed to act as the consignee of the humanitarian relief.
