SINGAPORE: The High Commission of India in Singapore said that they are in “close contact” with the Sahani family, hailing from India, whose mother is missing after she fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Monday during a voyage from Malaysia to Singapore.
Taking to Twitter, the High Commission of India in Singapore said, “The High Commission of India is in constant touch with the Sahani family since the news of the unfortunate incident reached us. We are also in close contact with Singaporean authorities to address related issues and are facilitating legal procedures.”
“HCI has also reached out to the India head of the Royal Caribbean cruise company to extend all cooperation. We remain fully committed to supporting the family in this testing time,” it added.
Reeta Sahani, 64, was vacationing with her husband, Jakesh Sahani, 70, on the Spectrum of the Seas when he woke up in the middle of the night and noticed his wife was missing, The Strait Times reported.
Jakesh Sahani tried to locate his wife on the cruise ship but was not successful, so he informed the ship’s crew, who later told him the ship’s overboard detection systems had been alerted that something had fallen from the vessel into the Singapore Strait.
Afterwards, Jakesh’s son, Apoorv Sahani had a telephonic talk with his father and later recounted the entire episode to the Strait Times on a phone call on Monday night.
Apoorv Sahani, 39, an architect said his family members, who are from India, are still unknown about the whereabouts of his mother’s current status.
“We’ve asked to see the CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage, but so far we’ve not received anything yet for us to confirm that it was her. All we know is that the ship’s crew thinks she jumped,” he said.
“Eventually my father was told to get down from the ship because there was another cruise that was going to take place, but we think she may still be on the ship, stuck somewhere.”
Apoorv added: “She was on a holiday enjoying herself and then this whole thing happened. It doesn’t make sense.”
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a statement on Monday night that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Singapore was notified about the incident at about 7.50 am, as per The Strait Times.
The passenger was on board the Cyprus-flagged Spectrum of the Seas and had fallen overboard, although no further details were provided.
“MRCC Singapore is coordinating the search and immediately issued navigational safety broadcast to vessels in the Singapore Strait and vessels in port to keep a lookout for the missing person and report any sightings to MRCC Singapore,” said the statement.
It added that the vessel was berthed earlier in Singapore to support the investigations and had departed at around 4.30 pm, reported The Strait Times. (ANI)