Family of Indian seafarer Nishanth Uirthanathan seen in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. Photo: X/@ANI
His name was Nishanth Uirthanathan. In Tamil, his last name means he is someone who has come back to life, a reference to Jesus Christ.
On June 11, Uirthanathan, a 35-year-old second officer on M.T. Celestial Sea, died onboard the ship. He is not going to come back to life.
Uirthanathan’s home address is listed as Theresepuram in Thoothukudi—a neighbourhood of hardy fisherfolk for whom righting a capsized boat at sea is routine. But, Uirthanathan died of sheer weakness.
With 16 Indian crew members, including the master of the ship, one Pakistani electrical officer, and one Indonesian cook, Celestial Sea’s problems encompass almost everything that Indian seafarers have faced in the conflict zone in the last two-and-a-half months: Depleting supplies, problems with owners, distress calls not being attended to, rationing of food and water, long stressful days in the war zone, and the U.S. Navy’s hostile manoeuvres.
No medical help was offered to Uirthanathan even though he lay suffering for more than three days, not far from Oman’s Duqm port. The master of the ship, Capt. Devendra Yadav said the officer started vomiting and later stopped eating. Though he seemed to get better briefly, he subsequently collapsed and died.
All this time, the crew members were sending urgent messages to whoever would listen, including the Marine Rescue Coordination Committee, the manager of the vessel Romana Shipping Company, and Duqm port authorities who apparently told him he had to get an agent to look after these things.
Three days before the second officer’s death, the company advised the master to sail to Shinas, Oman, so supplies could be arranged. But the captain refused.
The vessel was boarded by the U.S. Navy on May 19 while at Khor Fakkan and ordered to leave and go to Duqm, 400 nautical miles away from the Strait of Hormuz, he said. And the captain didn’t want to go back into the area where the U.S. Navy had marked him out.
In shipping, agents are available at every port to take care of such emergencies as well as arrange supplies, facilitate crew sign off-on and so on. The ship manager delayed in finding an agent at Duqm, said Capt. Yadav.
A helicopter evacuation was promised as Uirthanathan was still alive, but that didn’t come either. In Capt. Yadav’s opinion, Uirthanathan died because of food poisoning, but he didn’t forget to add that the entire crew had been subsisting almost exclusively on rice and dhal for many months now – no vegetables nor meat.
Maritime rules across the world specify a healthy, balanced and nutritious diet for seafarers who perform physically tiring and exhausting work every day. There are no Sundays onboard a ship, nor Diwali or Id.
After Uirthanathan died, his body lay decomposing for another three days in the crew recreation room. The emaciated crew recorded a video and tried to send it out to draw attention to their ordeal. On Sunday night (June 14, 2026), Duqm port authorities asked them to come in so that Uirthanathan’s body could be removed.
Celestial Sea is a 20-year-old tanker that can carry 11,500 tonnes of cargo. It has changed names eight times and sailed under as many flags, as per Equasis. MarineTraffic says it is Aruba-flagged.
The ship had left Singapore nearly a month and a half ago and its ordeal is not yet over.
Published – June 16, 2026 09:54 pm IST
