KARACHI(National Times)- Just days after kidnapped sailors from MT Honour 25 were reunited with their families, another Pakistani seafarer’s family is seeking the return of his mortal remains, following his demise after his ship came under attack near the Strait of Hormuz last month.
Muhammad Hammad Obaida, a third engineer and crew member aboard the Panama-flagged oil tanker MT El Gaia, was killed in an attack on the vessel on Sept 13, off the coast of Oman.
Nearly a month on, however, the grieving family in Pakistan, including his three-year-old son and pregnant wife, is still waiting for his repatriation.
Media reports provide conflicting accounts of the incident, which took place north of Oman’s Musandam peninsula. According to multiple accounts, the tanker came under attack on Sept 13, while Reuters reported that it was towed to an Omani port around five days later.
While US and Iranian authorities traded blame over who was behind the strike, the bodies of two sailors — a Pakistani and an Indian — who had perished in an engine room fire were only discovered days after the incident, when the men were found to be missing during a headcount.
According to Hammad’s family, they came to know about the incident through one of his colleagues on Sept 26.
Hammad had left home only a few days earlier, on Sept 6. Just a day before the attack, he had spoken to his mother over a video call.
“He was showing me around the ship… He was happy to be back at work,” his mother, Ather Pervaiz, told Dawn.
Hammad, 34, was a qualified marine engineer who had graduated from Glasgow University in the UK.
When his younger brother Fawwad took out his phone to show us a picture, Hammad’s three-year-old son, Musa, who had been busy playing with blocks on the floor, suddenly looked up and ran to take the phone from his uncle.
“This is my Baba,” the toddler exclaimed, adding, “He is with Allah Mian [God Almighty] now.”
He kissed the phone screen as both his elders struggled to hold back tears.
“Hammad’s son needs to say a final goodbye to him. His young widow is expecting their second child. His father, brother, sisters and I have accepted what happened as God’s will. But please bring us his remains so that we can at least give him a respectful burial,” Ms Pervaiz said quietly.
Fawwad explained that despite writing countless letters and reaching out to the Pakistan Embassy in Oman, the Foreign Office and the prime minister through social media, the family had received no clear official response.
“We also approached the Sindh government… and were told that the matter was in the government’s knowledge,” he added.
DNA sample
Fawwad said the Pakistani embassy in Oman had confirmed that two bodies were awaiting DNA testing in the country, but no Pakistani authority had collected a DNA sample from the family to expedite identification.
“I am also in touch with Vivek, the brother of Indian seafarer Sumit Kumar, whose body was found alongside my brother’s,” he stated.
When contacted, the Foreign Office confirmed that the bodies of a Pakistani and an Indian seafarer were lying in a hospital mortuary in Oman, awaiting DNA testing for identification.
Responding to Dawn’s query, the FO spokesperson said the bodies had been severely disfigured, making DNA testing necessary and delaying the repatriation of the remains to their families.
