A merchant navy officer from Jammu and Kashmir has gone missing from his tanker vessel since May 27, three days after leaving an Australian port for Singapore, his family said Tuesday.
Bikram Singh, 30, second officer in the Japanese merchant navy company M.T. Yayoi Express Product Tanker, left Fremantle port in Australia May 24 for Singapore.
"Captain V.K. Jha from the company's office in Mumbai called us on the morning of May 27 and told us that Bikram was missing," Bikram Singh's younger brother Paramjit Singh told IANS on telephone from his village Ramgarh, about 40 km south of Jammu. Bikram Singh, who hails from a village near Jammu, was on a ship carrying oil and chemicals.
"We were told that the ship had just covered about 280 km from Fremantle port and was still in Australian waters when it was found that Bikram was not traceable.