Palash sister pens heartfelt open letter to Sushma Swaraj

Nine days after Iranian cargo ship MV Mashhour met with an accident near Iran, ending the life of 20-year-old Palash Balsetwar, his sister Payal Balsetwar has written an open letter to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj pleading, “Please get back his body from Iran so that our family can touch him one last time. I plead you for knowing what happened to my sailor brother, as I do not want any other sister in the world to go through the pain I am going through. My mother has nervous breakdowns and I feel she may not live as she has lost the will after the cruel act of destiny. Brave sailors and families deserve to see the investigation report on ships where they lose their loved ones. Please help us and inform us when will we receive body of my brother who saved the life of other sailors when the ship was sinking. There are 500 other Indian sailor brothers in Iran whom I want to come back to hug their families. I am destined to hug my brave sailor dead brother Palash.”

The Asian Age reported that the ministry of external affairs and Indian High Commission at Tehran had cited the vacations in Iran due to Navroz as the reason behind the delay in getting the dead body back to India. It has been a week since Palash’s family has been trying to get back his body.

Palash worked as deck cadet for a private shipping company and lost his life when the ship sank late at night on March 15. MV Mashhour is said to have been built way back in 1986.

Palash last spoke with his family via video conferencing on the evening of March 15 when he said that everything was fine and he was getting ready to board the ship.