On March 26, a marine engineer hailing from Varanasi was kidnapped by pirates near Nigeria.
Santosh Kumar Bhardwaj, who worked as third engineer in Singapore-based shipping company Transocean Limited, was kidnapped by the pirates along with four colleagues from different countries.
The incident took place when the five were at sea aboard the ship Sampatiki, which was around 30 nautical miles off Nigeria’s capital Lagos.
After a month of waiting, it has emerged that Santosh has been rescued.
Foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted:
Earlier, the engineer’s father Virendra Prasad Thakur told Hindustan Times that he had received the news of the kidnapping from the shipping company officials over the phone.
Santosh’s wife, Kanchan, even wrote to PM Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, to ensure her husband is rescued.
At that time, Sushma Swaraj had tried to console the family: