KOLKATA: A businessman from south Kolkata, who had gone on a trip to Singapore with his family, is believed to have fallen off a Singapore-bound cruise ship into the sea in the Strait of Malacca.

Alleging that no search operation was conducted even four days after the incident, Raj Kumar Agarwal’s relatives alleged neither the Singapore Police nor the ship’s authorities were helping them out. They claimed a complaint had been lodged at the Coast Guard headquarters in Singapore but they were neither given a copy of the complaint nor were they shown any video footage of the ship’s decks on the ill-fated night. Agarwal’s relatives are now knocking on the door of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking her intervention, and are also in touch with the ministry of external affairs. .

The 30-year-old resident of Mahamayatala near Garia started off for Singapore, along with his two brothers, sister-in-law, mother and a nephew. They had booked themselves on a cruise ship for a three-day trip to Penang, Lankavi and Singapore. The cruise reportedly went off well until October 6, when the ship was head back to Singapore. On October 6, Agarwal and his brother, Praveen, were in the casino on the ship till late in the night. Just after midnight, around 12.05am on October 7, Praveen left but Agarwal reportedly continued playing.

“I had to take my wife for a movie at a multiplex inside the ship and we left for the theatre. It took me around 10 minutes to bring my wife and I crossed the place in the casino where Raj was sitting. He wasn’t there, and I thought he might have gone to fetch a drink,” the brother said. When Praveen returned after watching the film, he reportedly could not see Agarwal anywhere around. He went off to sleep, assuming Agarwal must be somewhere around.

“It is in the morning that we realized that something had gone wrong with him and he was nowhere to b found. His wallet and shoes were also missing. We alerted the ship’s captain around 6.30am on October 7. After almost a four-hour search, they told us he had gone overboard,” Praveen said. According to the information given to the family, Agarwal went overboard at 12.22am on October 7(at 03 degree 43 minutes N, 100 degrees 33 minutes E). The location, which is on the Strait of Malacca, falls under Malaysia’s jurisdiction.

According to Captain Shishir Wahi, a veteran in the merchant navy, the moment a ship’s captain learns about a missing passenger, he has to make arrangement for elaborate search in a prescribed manner. Apart from informing the nearest RCC (rescue coordination center), the ship authorities are also supposed to show the logbook entries. “Claiming a person has fallen off the ship at a particular coordinate is not enough, it has to synchronize with the video footage and sighting time too. The ship’s authorities have to give detailed report of the searches conducted,” Wahi said.

Agarwal’s family members have also alleged that the ship authorities had told them that in the video footages, he was seen with two mobile phones. The family, however, pointed out that he was carrying only one cellphone on the trip. Moreover, Praveen claimed, Agarwal did not have international roaming activated on his mobile and so, he could not have been seeing speaking over phone.

