Two cargo vessels missing with 7 Pakistanis on board

Pak Tribune (23 August 2007)

KARACHI: The Ansar Burney Trust International (ABTI) on Wednesday confirmed that it was investigating the whereabouts of two cargo vessels missing at sea for the last month with 7 Pakistanis on board.

A spokesman for ABTI said on Wednesday that both the vessels left the port of Dubai for Mogadishu, Somalia in June and lost contact in July. There were a total of 30 personnel on board, including 7 Pakistanis.

The ABTI was informed about the missing vessels and contacted at Karachi by grieving family members of the Pakistani crew, who feared that the vessels might have been used in an insurance scam and the crew on board might have been held captive or possibly killed.

Ansar Burney, Chairman of the Trust, soon after his arrival from Dubai confirmed the vessels were missing and the agents who booked the ships and signed the crew in Dubai had also disappeared.

The vessels were the 'MV Reef Arzonia' with 2 Pakistanis on board - Captain Khalid Shah Siddiqui and Chief Engineer Zaffar Iqbal - along with 4 Indian and 8 Tanzanians; while the other vessel 'MV Infinity' had 5 Pakistani crew members - Chief Officer Farooq Saeed, Second Engineer Fazlur Rehmaan, Second Officer Khan Bahadur, Cook Faizan and Welder Mohammad Haneef - along with 10 Indians and 1 Iraqi on board.

Ansar Burney also stated that his organization was trying to contact the family members of the non-Pakistani crew through their respective Embassies.

"We are very worried for the safety of these 30 human beings. The owners of the ships have already claimed for insurance without launching any sort of search operation for the missing crew, the agents have disappeared and the family members of the crew have received no feedback or support," stated Fahad Burney, head of Middle East Operations at ABTI.

"We are currently in touch with the UAE Government and would hopefully soon be able to locate the missing agents and through them get further information on the missing crew," he added.

The Ansar Burney Trust also appealed masses to forward any information they have in this regard to the Trust at 'ABT, Arambagh Road, Karachi' or contact by Phone to Fahad Burney on: 0333- 5234950

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