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Chinese police to investigate suspicious disappearance of captain

The Chinese government has decided to send their police to look into the suspicious disappearance of Chinese captain of the vessel “Ocean Gem”. The captain, Zhang Ming Qiang, has been missing since September 24. The Chinese police will visit Nellore and co-ordinate with the local police to crack Qiang’s disappearance . The local police, who were about to break open the personal locker of the captain, refrained from doing so. They said they would open it only in the presence of the Chinese police and representatives of Admiral shipping company, to which the cargo belongs. More at http://ibnlive.in.com/news/chinese-cops-come-for-missing-captain/296582-60-114.html

Captain still missing

Totapalle Gudur police, investigating the disappearance of the "Ocean Gem"’s captain, were awaiting the arrival of the ship’s former captain hoping to receive information in resolving the mystery. The police was also waiting to open the locker of the master on Sep 29. Search operations were on to trace the man at Krishnapatnam along the coast in the district in coordination with marine police. Police had received information on Sep 24 at 9. 30 p.m. that the captain was missing, from the shipping agent of the Admiral Ship Company. First the police thought of registering a case of suicide, based on circumstantial evidence. But they dropped the idea after receiving a message from the shipping company, which the master had sent in Mandarin from his personal computer on Sep 23. The "Ocean Gem" which brought coal from China to Krishnapatnam on Sept 18, had anchored about 7 miles from the port and waited to load granite. After loading operations on Sept 23, the ship was waiting for tax clearance when the captain disappeared.

Captain disappeared from ship

The 45-year-old captain of the "Ocean Gem" disappeared from the ship when it was anchored about seven nautical miles off the Krishnapatnam port after midnight on Sep 24, 2012. There was speculation that the captain may have committed suicide by jumping into the sea, but the police was not convinced this was the case. There was no sign of the body though the Coast Guard and marine police have been searching the area since September 25. A printout of a message in Chinese was found in the captain’s cabin indicating that he had sought a replacement for himself since he had been working on the ship for three months. The police investigating the case said a sailor on board the ship noticed the captain standing on the bridge of the ship around 10.30 p.m. on Sep 24. Another sailor on night patrol heard the sound of something falling into the sea a few minutes later. Suspecting that someone might have fallen overboard, he threw a lifebelt into the sea and focused a searchlight on the area. He alerted the chief officer of the vessel immediately as he thought he saw a man but could not recognise him. When the chief officer realised that the captain was missing, he alerted the port authorities. It was difficult to get information from the crew as they spoke only Chinese or bad English. The laptop belonging to the captain also had content in Chinese. The key of his locker was missing and it was impossible to break the locker. The ship was transporting granite and was awaiting tax clearance when the incident happened. Meanwhile, the Admiral Shipping Ltd, Mumbai, has requested the police to investigate further and has assured the cooperation of the crew.