NEW DELHI – For Kumkum Sinha, 50, wife of marine engineer Deonandan Prasad Singh, 55, life has long been measured by departure and return. Over her husband’s more than three-decade career at sea, she had become accustomed to the rhythm of months-long voyages, brief returns home, and reassuring phone calls bridging the distance between ocean and home.
But she says she never imagined the sea would bring such news.
Singh, the additional chief engineer on board the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Sevsi Vishnu, was killed earlier this week when the ship was hit near the southern Iraqi port city of Basra. The tanker had left Basra Oil Port loaded with an oil cargo and was scheduled to sail to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates before heading to Singapore.
But for the family, the tragedy unfolded far from the turbulent waters in which the attack occurred. At their home in India, grief and uncertainty mixed as they waited for Singh’s body to be returned.
“We found out about it yesterday around 10.30 or 11 am,” Kumkum recalls. “The last time we spoke was the day before. He was perfectly fine.”
She said the conversation was routine in every sense of the word, as it was a short conversation on the phone while the family was eating dinner.
“We were talking about food and everyday things. There was nothing unusual. It seemed normal,” she said.
For a family that had lived with the vicissitudes of marine life for decades, such conversations were part of a familiar routine. Singh has spent more than 30 years working on international ships, navigating shipping routes across the world.
“In all these 30-32 years he has been working at sea, we have never seen anything like this before,” Kumkum Sinha said. “There have been storms and difficult journeys, but nothing like this has ever happened. There has never been an attack.”
Her daughter Komal Singh (22), a third-year MBBS student at Nagpur Medical College, said the family first received fragmentary information about the incident before eventually learning of Singh’s death.
“They told us everyone was saved,” she said. “Later they said that my father jumped into the water, and that they tried to revive him, but he did not survive.”
The family says that delayed communications from the ship’s management added to their distress.
“We have been calling them since morning. They kept saying that they are checking the matter and will inform us later,” Komal said. “But by then the news had already started coming online. We were seeing things online but no one was telling us clearly what had actually happened.”
According to maritime sources, the tanker was carrying tens of thousands of tons of oil goods when a fast-moving explosive boat collided with it during ship-to-ship shipping operations near the oil export area in Basra, causing a fire.
There were 28 crew members on board, including 16 Indians and 12 Filipinos. Except Singh, all others were rescued by nearby ships and marine authorities.
But for the Singh family, the tragedy also raised troubling questions about their decision to operate in the region amid rising tensions in West Asia.
“When everyone knew that tensions were rising there, why did the company send the ship to that area?” Kumkum Sinha asked. “Couldn’t the shipment have waited a few days? Was it necessary for the ship to move at that time?”
She said Singh wasn’t even supposed to be sailing at that moment.
“He had already resigned and was expected to move to coastal duty,” she said. “He wasn’t supposed to go to sea again right away. So why was he sent there?”
Komal said the family urged Singh to reconsider staying in the area.
She said: “When the war started, we asked him to return.” “But he said there would be no attack on Indian ships or Asian ships. That’s what he was told,” he added.
As questions continue, the family is now focused on bringing Singh home.
The Directorate General of Indian Shipping and the Indian Embassy in Baghdad are coordinating with the Iraqi authorities and the ship’s management company to arrange the return of his remains.
For Komal, the wait has been emotionally exhausting. Her younger brother, Chitiz Singh (19), who is pursuing an MBA in the US, is currently in Japan in connection with one of his academic projects. He is expected to arrive in Delhi on Friday evening to join the family as they await further updates.
Meanwhile, the family navigates a maze of formalities as they wait for his body to be returned to India.
For Komal, the wait is painful. “We are just asking for clarification. We want to know exactly what happened and when my father will be brought home.”
Behind broader concerns about maritime security and regional tensions lies a quieter reality – the lives of families waiting at home while their loved ones work across oceans far away.
For Kumkum Sinha, decades of waiting always ended in relief when her husband returned from the sea. Not this time.
