The ship was carrying steel billets from Russia to Turkey and was reported missing on February 18 when it was about 120 nautical miles (over 220 km) from the Turkish coast. Maritime agencies have since been looking for it, but have not found any bodies or wreckage barring a lone life raft and some buoys.

“There is a suspicion about the possibility of overloading. The ship was also small by international standards,” P H Krishnan, deputy director-general of shipping, told The Indian Express on Thursday.

Pelican Marine Pvt Ltd, the Mumbai-based firm, which supplied the crew to the ship, would also have to furnish details of the worth of the cargo as “we cannot overlook the factor that it was carrying very expensive cargo,” he said.

Although the 25 men were feared dead and the Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (MRCC) in Turkey resumed its search for Rezzak and its crew this week only under pressure from New Delhi, Krishnan and other officials insisted it was “missing” and not “sunk”. “We have to wait for the MRCC report before we conclude anything,” Krishnan said.

While a top Government marine official said on Wednesday that MV Rezzak was old and well past its sea life, Krishnan said the vessel had not sailed to India in the last one year and so they had no records of its sea-worthiness. “It’s an old ship. We will check facts on its maintenance and sea worthiness,” he said.

A glimmer of hope appeared on Thursday for relatives of the 25 sailors when one of the families claimed that the mobile phone carried by a crew member rang but went unanswered on Wednesday.

Officials said they would pursue the lead with Turkey, but added that they could not come to any conclusion based on this.

Mechanic Hriday Chauhan’s uncle Rajendra Chauhan, a sailor himself, has flown down from the US and is seeking details of the ship’s EPIRB or Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon, a tracking transmitter which signals maritime distress. It is fitted above the bridge of the ship and normally gets activated when it comes in contact with marine water. “I am not willing to believe that the ship has sunk,” he said.

However, Santosh C Biswas, a director at Pelican, said the “captain may have kept it in a secure location”. “It must have not worked because of that,” he said.