SC Orders MEA to Trace Missing Seafarer After Black Sea Drone Strike

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Ministry of External Affairs to use its diplomatic channels to locate a 22-year-old Indian seafarer missing since a drone attack on his cargo ship in the Black Sea. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek information from the Indian embassy in Ukraine and the Embassy of India in Bucharest, Romania, about the whereabouts of Deepak Kumar Gupta, who was aboard the MV AGN Ragnar.

The court was hearing a plea from the seafarer's elder brother, Sandeep Kumar Gupta, who sought a direction to the MEA to coordinate search and rescue operations with Indian missions in Ukraine and Romania. The family said they wrote to the MEA and the embassies between July 26 and July 30 but received no response or assurance.