Jaipur: For the family of Dalip Singh (25), every ringing phone brings a surge of anticipation and dread. A native of Khivtana village in Nagaur district, Dalip worked aboard an oil tanker that was hit in a strike off the Oman coast earlier this month amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia.Dalip’s family in the village has since been running from pillar to post in search of information, but with little success. He left the village on Jan 23 to work at sea. His cousin, Devendra Singh, told TOI that the strike took place on March 1 when the oil tanker was near Oman’s Khasab Port, destroying a section of the ship. Devendra said Dalip joined the vessel on Jan 23. At the time of the strike, he was in the front section of the ship along with another crew member from Bihar. While his colleague’s body was recovered after the incident, Dalip remains missing, with no verifiable clue about his whereabouts.According to the family, the company said search efforts were underway for Dalip. “We last spoke to him on Feb 28, and he told the family that his duty was going on normally and everything was fine. Three days later, the family received the devastating news of the strike,” Devendra said.Dalip was the main support for the household. He was unmarried, and his father has been battling illness for nearly two decades. The news left the family shattered, and a pall of grief descended over the village as relatives and neighbours gathered to console them.“If he is indeed dead, as some reports suggest, then at least we should get his body so that the last rites can be performed as per our rituals,” Devendra said. The family has appealed to elected representatives to help them in these distressing times.Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal said that after receiving the information, he sent a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar demanding that the actual situation be ascertained from Oman and that Dalip’s family be informed. “I also spoke over the telephone with senior MEA officials regarding this matter,” Beniwal posted on X.
