KOCHI: In another bizarre incident linked to Lakshadweep, one more man lost his life due to the callousness of the officials in less than 10 days after a patient died due to the same reason. Fokkigothi Moosa, 55, belonging to a poor Minicoy family, was declared dead 10 minutes before the docking of the passenger ship MV Lakshadweep Sea from Minicoy at Ernakulam wharf of Cochin port at Willingdon Island around 4 pm on Monday. His treatment was being supported with a fund drive by the students and natives.
According to the passengers, the ship arrived more than eight hours late at the Cochin port, by which time the life of the renal patient could have been saved. He, along with another patient, was being taken for expert treatment in Kochi under the care of the official doctor on the vessel. According to CPM candidate in the Lakshadweep Parliamentary constituency in the last elections, Dr Muneer, the failure of the captain to dock the ship at the wharf at Minicoy before departure resulted in the delay in taking the ship on time to Kochi.
“This open wharf was built spending Rs 20 crore. The 150-odd passengers protested at Minicoy when the captain (John Mampilly) refused to take the ship to the wharf saying the weather was unpredictable in monsoon. The life of passengers is risked when they are taken in local boats operated by oars to the ship from the wharf. At one point the ship connected to a mooring buoy in the deep waters drifted with a dhow that was tugged to load cargo, up to nine miles deep in the sea. Then it had to be brought back. Thus the departure was delayed,” said Dr Muneer.
General Manager of Lakshadweep Development Corporation Limited (LDCL) Rajeev Ranjan told this newspaper that it was for the captain to take a call on whether to dock at the port or away during monsoon. “Usually weather is unpredictable during monsoon and hence the ship is docked away,” he said and added he will seek an explanation from the captain on the incident.
Dr Muneer said that when monsoon arrives, a blame game takes place between the captain and LDCL and the Laskhadweep administration. “The captain during the argument on Sunday told us that the LDCL had asked him to dock anywhere at his own risk. They are playing with the lives of the people of the island,” Dr Muneer said. An official of the shipping company said the administration should have airlifted the patient to save his life.
