“The situation is turning worse with every passing day. We want to return home as early as possible,” Binay Kumar Sarkar, crew member on-board cruise ship Diamond Princess , which has been docking in Yokohama, Japan, over the past two weeks, told The Hindu . The cruise ship, with 3,700 passengers on board, has 175 people infected with the novel coronavirus named COVID-19 , making it the biggest cluster of cases outside China.
Mr. Sarkar, who hails from north Bengal, said that he, along with other crew members, can only leave after the quarantine period ends on February 19. “We have been living in fear for so many days. If everything goes as per schedule, I will be leaving for home on 20 February,” he said.
Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, Mr. Sarkar said that while there were reports of two Indian crew members testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, there have been no new reports on Thursday.
“According to the information available to us, the two Indian crew members who tested positive have been quarantined and are being provided treatment,” he said. There was no dearth of food and supplies on the ship and everyone, including the Indian Embassy, was extended a helping hand, he added.
Panic-stricken
The sight of people taking ill and the fear of viral contamination is creating panic among crew members and others on board the cruise ship. On Wednesday evening, Mr. Sarkar said, more than 30 people had tested positive, which included 20 passengers, about ten crew members from the quarantine team, and a Japanese doctor.
Since reports on the outbreak of coronavirus on board the cruise emerged, Mr. Sarkar has been releasing a number of video messages urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to rescue the Indians on board. On February 12, a statement from the Indian Embassy in Tokyo had said that 132 crew members and six passengers were Indian nationals.
“We came to know about the infection in the first week of February. Since February 6, the ship has been at the Yokohama coast. We have closely followed all the security protocol and have taken all the precautions,” said Mr. Sarkar. Apart from wearing masks and other protective gear, crew members have been asked to maintain a distance of a few metres and avoid touching surfaces like door knobs and tables with bare hands.
‘Living with fear’
“Everyone is living with the fear that they will get the dreaded virus,” Mr. Sarkar said, adding that family members back home in Bengal were also having sleepless nights.
“Not all fully understand what the viral infection is about. For instance, my mother thinks that the coronavirus infection cannot be cured,” he said.
Another crew member, Swaroop Chapadar, who hails from Diamond Harbour, also expressed similar concerns. “I had never thought that I would have to suffer such an ordeal. At first, I thought I won’t tell my family and then, when more and more people started falling ill on the ship, I finally did,” Mr. Chapadar said.
Mr. Chapadar, a hotel management graduate and a chef, is uncertain about the immediate future and said that he had no idea whether he could return safely to his home or not.
