India on Friday asked China to provide “urgent, practical and time-bound” assistance to 39 sailors on board bulk cargo vessel MV Jag Anand and MV Anastasia, which have been stranded in Jingtang and Caofeidian ports for several months now. Anurag Srivastava, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian Embassy in Beijing was in close touch with the Chinese authorities in Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin.
The foreign ministry’s statement came hours after the National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognisance of the condition of the stranded sailors and asked the government “to ensure immediate relief”. It said lack of rescue amounts to violation of human rights.
Twenty-three Indian sailors were on board MV Jag Anand, which has been anchored near Jingtang port in China’s Hebei province since June 13, 2020. Meanwhile, 16 others were on MV Anastasia, which has been off the port of Caofeidian, also in Hebei, since September 20.
The…