KARACHI, Sept 28: The Edhi Foundation plans to claim damages for the death of its rescue worker on board oil tanker Alexy-I while attempting to retrieve the body of a Yamani crew member last week off the coast of Gadani.

An official of the Edhi Foundation, Rizwan Edhi, told Dawn they were misguided by the captain of the ship who had told them that the body was lying on the deck and they only had to collect it. “When our team went to the ship they discovered the real situation, but nevertheless attempted to recover the body of Shaqi, a Yamani national, from the 105-feet deep oil tank,” he said.

The other three members of the rescue team— Saleem, Hanif Memon and Badar— have been admitted to the Poison Control Centre in ward-5 of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Dr Jamal Ara, in charge of the ward, termed their condition stable.

Mr Rizwan said the family of Mohammad Amin had approached the Edhi Foundation seeking compensation from the ship’s captain or its owner. He added that the Foundation would try to get compensation for Amin’s family.

“There was at least four-feet of crud oil present in the tank,” he claimed and maintained that the sheer misguidance and the unreasonable attitude of the crew of the ship had caused the death of Mohammad Amin.

The fire department officials who recovered the bodies

of Mohammad Amin

and Yamani also described the conditions at the ship as dangerous and pathetic.

Chief fire officer Kazim Ali painted a bleak picture of the ship saying there was at least four to six-feet of crude oil present at the depth of 100 feet in the tank of the ship. He said lack of oxygen which contributed to the death of Mohammad Amin.

“Neither the sea nor the ship fell in our jurisdiction, but we took the risk and finally managed to retrieve both the bodies,” Kazim Ali said.

Quoting the ship’s captain, Mr Kazim said the ship was once stranded at an Iraqi port following the sanctions imposed by the United Nations on Iraq in the early 90’s.

The chief fire officer said that following the successful completion of the rescue operation, the captain of the ship had given all the rescue equipment of his ship as a gift to the fire department.

Mr Suliman Jevani, who is the owner of the ship, expressed ignorance about the ship’s history. “I bought it from a London-based party for the purpose of scraping. I don’t know whether it was earlier stranded at an Iraq port or not,” said Mr Jevani.

To a query regarding the quantity of oil present in the oil tanker, Mr Jevani denied that the ship contained four feet of crude oil. However, he reluctantly admitted that there might be some gases present in the ship.

He said the ship was in international waters when the crew member fell and died in the tank. “The ship has not come to the shore as it is awaiting completion of legal formalities, which are not in our control,” he added.