New Delhi: Captain Sunil James, who has hit the headlines across India, is a 31-year-old merchant navy captain. Mumbai based Sunil was the captain of an oil tanker, Ocean Centurion.
Sunil James was attacked by pirates off the African coast on July 16 and the ship had been languishing for five months in the detention of naval authorities in Togo. While Captain Sunil James had disembarked the ship to report about the pirate attack, he ended up being held captive by the authorities in Togo, a small country on the north western part of Africa.
Sunil James and two members of his crew had been kept in Togo prison since July 31. The news was reported by the Indian media on September 4.
According to his wife, Aditi James, since July 31, he had been kept in police custody with no proper food and sleep. He was surviving on plain bread as the Togolese food given was inedible. The lock-up in which he was put in is suitable for 20 inmates. However, 80 were kept in it. He had no food, water, sleep or any other basic amenities and was in a cell with criminals. According to Indian shipping ministry officials, they received information that some charges are being framed against the Indian seafarers as per the law of that country.
Tanker Ocean Centurion was attacked by pirates on July 16 off the coast of Togo, some 45 nautical miles south east of Lome in Togo. Pirates robbed the crew off cash and personal belongings. Three crew members were injured during the attack. Pirates ordered the crew of the Ocean Centurion to sail south and then north towards the Togo-Benin border where they disembarked and escaped on a speedboat, 12 Nautical Miles from the coastline.
The issue became big after Captain James's 11-month-old son Vivaan died early in December. The sailor's family approached the authorities in India and Togo to let Sunil travel to India for his son's funeral. His 11-month-old son Vivaan died on December 2 and, ever since, has been kept in a morgue. He wife met the Prime Minister and told him that she would bury her dead son without her husband's presence.
Since India does not have a permanent embassy in Togo, it had to deal with the Togolese government through its High Commission in Ghana and India's honorary consul general in Togo. The Prime Minister, after meeting the family, had assured that government was doing its best to bring the sailors back.
Sunil James has now been released from the Togo prison and will return home soon for his son's funeral.
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