India on Monday stated it’s in contact with authorities in Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria for the early launch of 16 Indian crew members of a merchant vessel detained in mid-August.

The Indian embassy in Equatorial Guinea and the excessive fee in Nigeria are intently working with authorities of each international locations to free the crew members of MV Heroic Idun. “All crew members are safe and those in the Detention Centre have been shifted to the ship,” the mission in Equatorial Guinea tweeted.

“Since their detention in mid-August, this mission has been in regular contact with the crew members over phone. We have also had several consular access/visits to them,” it stated in one other tweet.

Indian authorities are “closely monitoring developments and are actively engaged for an early resolution of the issue”, the mission added.

The 16 Indian sailors, a part of the 26-member crew of the ship detained in Equatorial Guinea, earlier appealed for assist to be launched from “unlawful” detention.

According to an announcement launched by the sailors, the Norwegian-flagged MV Heroic Idun “was arrested by the Equatorial Guinea naval ship in international waters on 12th August 2022”.

The ship was “brought to Luba port in Equatorial Guinea under naval escort and threat of lethal action against the vessel and crew if orders are not complied (with) on 14th August 2022”, the assertion stated.

“We, the crew of MV Heroic Idun would like to request for help and assistance to get us released and be brought back to India from Equatorial Guinea where we have been held unlawfully since 14th August 2022. The vessel has a total crew of 26 persons, and out of that we have 16 Indians, 8 Sri Lankans, 1 Polish and 1 Filipino national onboard,” the assertion added.

Minister of state for exterior affairs V Muraleedharan stated he was conscious of the matter and his ministry is making efforts to convey the Indian nationals again residence.

Fifteen crew members, together with 9 Indians, have been taken ashore on August 14 and have been held in detention at Malabo. The remaining 11 crew members, together with six Indians, have been left on the ship.

“The owners, managers and crew of the vessel have fully cooperated with all the investigations carried out by the Equatorial Guinea authorities,” the assertion stated. The crew members held on shore have been interrogated by Nigerian officers thrice throughout their keep.

The crew members stated they have been detained by the Equatorial Guinean Navy primarily based on a request by Nigeria.

The ship was imagined to load a cargo of crude oil in Nigeria’s AKPO terminal on August 8, however the loading operation was delayed and the ship by no means had any operations in Nigeria.

On the night of August 8, the ship was approached by an unidentified craft claiming to be the Nigerian Navy and requested to proceed with them and to comply with directions.

“We could not identify the craft as it was night, and no moonlight was there, and the craft did not have its Automatic Identification System switched on. We tried our best to confirm the identity of the unidentified craft through the vessel agents In Nigeria, Inchcape Shipping Services, and through our ship managers, OSM Ship Management AS Norway, who also tried to confirm the presence of a Naval Vessel in the vicinity of our ship through various sources namely DNK war risk insurance, Ships local agent Inchcape Shipping Services Nigeria and ARC Security,” the sailors stated of their assertion.

“All parties informed us that this is not a normal course of action by the Nigerian Navy and that the vessel should not follow any orders unless clear instructions relating to the identity of the unidentified craft are received.”

The assertion additional stated: “We also tried to confirm the same with the AKPO terminal security and they also could not positively identify the craft. Based on the information available and Nigeria being a High-Risk Area for security purposes, fearing a pirate attack we acted in good faith fearing for the safety and security of the ship and its crew and sailed out of the location at full speed. The next day on 9th August 2022 it was informed to us that the unidentified craft was a Nigerian Naval vessel.”