Please Rescue Us, Indian Crew Of Ship Quarantined Off Japan With Coronavirus Patients Sends SOS
The cruise liner Diamond Princess is currently quarantined near Yokohama port in Japan. So far 62 people on board have been tested positive for the virus. With the number of cases going up the Indians onboard are appealing to the government to rescue them.
More than 200 Indian nationals, including passengers and crew members, are among the nearly 3,700 people who are stranded in a quarantined ship in Japan after some of them were tested positive for the Coronavirus.
The cruise liner, Diamond Princess, is currently quarantined near Yokohama port in Japan.
REUTERS
So far 62 people on board have been tested positive for the virus.
With the number of cases going up, the Indians onboard are appealing to the government to rescue them. Binay Kumar Sarkar, a crew member of the Diamond Princess posted a video on Facebook appealing for their rescue.
¡°We are in a grave, dangerous situation. Yesterday, 21 passengers tested positive for coronavirus. Today, the number went up to 62. As many as 41 passengers and two were quarantined just now. There are 160 Indians among the crew members. Panic over coronavirus is growing,¡± he said in the video.
¡°All we want from the Indian government is that we are taken out and kept at an isolated place. Family members are worried. We are scared. We just want to disembark somehow. Please help us,¡± Sarkar added.
Princess Cruises, the operator of this cruise ship, said on Friday evening that the ¡°quarantine end date will be February 19, unless there are any other unforeseen developments.¡± Sarkar, however, said they were scared. ¡°If I do not speak out, tomorrow I don¡¯t know if I will be alive or dead,¡± he said.
REUTERS
The Princess Cruises has confirmed that so far no Indians have been tested positive. ¡°As of February 6 at 7.25 pm (local Japan) no Indians have tested positive for coronavirus. The Japanese ministry of health has confirmed this is the last batch to be tested and the quarantine end date will be February 19, unless there are any other unforeseen developments. The Japanese government is also providing our ship and team members additional manpower support,¡± a statement by the cruise said.
REUTERS
Confirming the developments, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the government is closely following it.
Many Indian crew & some Indian passengers are onboard the cruise ship #DiamondPrincess quarantined off Japan due to #Coronavirus. None have tested positive, as per the latest information provided by our Embassy @IndianEmbTokyo. We are closely following the developments.
¡ª Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 7, 2020
"Many Indian crew and some Indian passengers are onboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined off Japan due to Coronavirus. None have tested positive, as per the latest information provided by our Embassy. We are closely following the developments." Jaishankar tweeted.
The cruise that has 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members on board has 62 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, making it the biggest number of infection outside mainland China.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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