PALAKKAD: The relatives of Mithun, who was kidnapped by Somali pirates off the Oman coast last month, has sought the intervention of Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed in speeding up the procedures to save his life.Rajagopal, brother of Mithun’s father, said that the ship carrying Mithun left the Sharjah Port on February 28 and was heading for Nigeria, but the pirates hijacked the vessel when it neared the Oman coast.He said the family members had come to know of the situation only on Wednesday afternoon. Mithun, of Veetampara Konthramkundil Ambalavattom, in Panamanna, was employed as a cadet on the ship. T 24-year-old had completed a two-year cadet training course from New Delhi.Rajagopal said that his brother Chandran had also been working on a ship for the past six years. He said that Mithun had initially been employed on a ship, on a nine-month contract. Thereafter, he had returned to Panamanna and was for the past one year, he had been on the lookout for a new job. It was on January 30, 2012 that he had joined the ship Royal Lady, as a cadet in Dubai. Royal Lady belonged to a firm in Dubai.The family members received a message about the hijacking on Wednesday afternoon, from the agency which had sent Mithun from Mumbai to Dubai.Rajagopal said that they had earlier learnt from the newspapers about the hijacking of a ship named Royal Grace. But because of the different name, they had been unaware that it was the same ship that Mithun was working on.In reality, the Royal Lady had been purchased by a Nigerian firm sometime after Mithun had joined it, and the new owners had changed the ship’s name from ‘Royal Lady’ to ‘Royal Grace’.Mithun’s family is now frantically trying for his rescue. Besides the MEA, requests for intervention have also been sent to the Minister for Overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi.
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