Somali pirates hold oil tanker with 17 Indian crew members

April 9, 2012

Noida, April 9: The families of 17 Indians, who were among a crew of 22 on a Nigeria-bound oil tanker, have just been told that the ship was captured by Somali pirates off the coast of Oman more than a month ago.

Recruitment agents said talks were on between the pirates and shipping company for the crew's release. The ship, MT Royal Grace, reportedly on its maiden voyage, was hijacked on March 4.

Family members of the crew said they were informed about the capture only a few days ago.

Manu Chauhan, CEO of East India Shipping Agency which recruited five of the Indian crew members, told TOI the ship's Dubai-based owners, Oyster Cargo and Shipping Company, had informed the government's DG (shipping) and was also keeping families of the crew members updated.

Talks were continuing between the East India Shipping Agency and Somali pirates for the release of the firm'screw.

"Our agency is dependent on Dubai-based agents for information. Whatever the agents feed us, we are passing to the crew members' families. I am trying to go to Dubai as soon as possible to get more information," said Manu Chauhan, CEO of the shipping firm.

Said a shipping agency official, "On March 2, we were alerted that there was an attack on the ship and later it was confirmed that the ship had been taken by pirates on March 4. As per information which we have received from Dubai, the ship was reportedly held off the coast near the town of Garacad in Somalia."

Somali pirates hold 21 ships, 289 hostages

Apart from the Indians, he said, the ship had three Nigerians and one Pakistani and Bangladeshi national each. With this, Somali pirates are now holding 21 vessels and have 289 hostages.

Family members of the crew said they were worried about the safety of their loved ones, some of whom were at sea for the first time.

"The MT Royal Grace set off from Sharjah for Nigeria with a crew of 22, including my brother-in-law Midhun Kottekatin Chandran. He had told us that the ship would be moving out of mobile network coverage area for about 10 days. That was the last we heard from him. After more than a month, we received a call from East India Shipping Agency officials who told us about the ship's capture," said Sachin Singh, a relative of one of the crew members.

He said his brother-in-law joined the company in January. "This was the first time he was travelling on a ship. We were earlier told the name of the ship was Royal Lady but it was reportedly sold to another company and its name changed. Midhun's father is also in the merchant navy and is at present on a ship near Qatar. He is likely to reach Mumbai next week.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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