Close to 145 Indian crew members had been stuck onboard a cruise ship due to the COVID-19 pandemic since a month. In a major relief to these passengers, they have been given permission to disembark in Mumbai on Thursday. As per the officials, the passengers were stuck on the ship after it had set sail from Thailand over a month ago.
On Thursday, the crew members of the cruise ship- Marila Discovery- alighted at the international cruise terminal in the city. Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) chairman, Sanjay Bhatia told PTI that these crew members hail from Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad and other places of the country.
“They have been quarantined now. They have undergone COVID-19 testing. After their test reports come, a decision will be taken on whether to send them home or not,” he said.
He added that the passengers on the cruise ship had disembarked in Thailand on March 14 after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, once the ship reached Mumbai on April 14, the crew was not getting permission to disembark in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.
When the matter came to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's notice, he took the issue with the Centre. Following which, the Union Home Ministry had issued guidelines to enable the crew members of this and similar other ships to disembark.
The state Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had issued a statement on Wednesday saying that the company, which operates the cruise ship had stated that despite leaving Thailand 37 days ago and although no crew member was found coronavirus positive, it was not getting permission to allow the ship to enter the harbour.
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