While recommending ships to give “utmost importance” to the prevailing weather and sea conditions for safe navigation, the DGS said that it was continuing to pressure Panama, where Rezzak was registered, to search for the ship and even consider the feasibility of an underwater survey. The “piracy and fraud angles” that have been raised could not be dismissed until the vessel is located, it said, adding that Interpol was also being pursued through the CBI in all three countries to investigate the matter urgently.

Investigators and shipping authorities have all along suspected that M V Rezzak might have sunk in bad weather, as there were “gale-like conditions” in the Black Sea at the time. However, questions were raised as the Mumbai firm which supplied the sailors to the ship, Pelican Marine Pvt Ltd, asked the families of the crew to go through procedures needed to claim insurance within a week of the ship going missing even though investigators had not come to any conclusion. Pelican said it believed all the 25 men were dead.

The vessel, also thought to be overloaded, was being tracked by its owner who had not informed the military port about its arrival as required under maritime rules. The only crucial evidence found by the rescue team off the Turkish Coast was one punctured life raft with the name ‘ASEAN ENERGY’, which was the previous name of the ship.

The Sunday Express had reported that an inspection conducted by port authorities in Novorossiisk before the ship set sail had found 37 deficiencies that may have endangered the lives of the crew. The vessel’s certification agency said it was allowed to sail despite its inability to fix three important deficiencies as it could not be done in Novorossiisk.