4 undocumented Indian crew members rescued from oil tanker

Four 'undocumented' Indian crew members of an Iran-bound merchant ship have been rescued by immigration officials during a check after it docked here and its captain arrested on charges of trying to hide them, police said today.

The four crew members, including one from Tamil Nadu, were found kept hidden in the engine room of the Panama-registered crude oil carrier "Rise Dignity" when immigration officials searched the vessel yesterday reportedly after a tip-off by a relative of one of them, they said.

The vessel with 40 crew members, including the four Indians, arrived at the port on its voyage from Dubai in United Arab Emirates to Iran.

Captain of the ship Pavan Kumar, who allegedly did not include the names of four in the list of crew members and tried to hide them from Immigration officials, had been arrested, the police said.

R Prakash of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, A Suresh Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, Thejos Pukkot from Kerala and Punit from Uttar Pradesh were rescued and handed over to the Harbour Police and later allowed to go (to home towns), according to police.

According to a complaint filed by 24-year old Prakash with police, he and other three Indians were 'cheated' by their Mumbai-based employer and the captain and brought onboard the vessel.

While working in vessel Rise Express, they were told by their owner to work for bigger ship 'Rise Dignity' on June 2. They were cleaning oil tanks among other works.

They handed over their original travel documents, including passports, to Rise Dignity's Captain Pavan Kumar.

"When we learnt that our names were not in the list of crew members. We asked them and all they said was they will manage... but the captain and other crew members hid us four in engine room to avoid being caught," he said.

They informed the immigration officials about the entire situation, Prakash said in the complaint.

Further investigation was on, police said.