With their coal-carrying merchant vessels stuck off China's Caofeidian port, 41 Indian seafarers on board two such ships have asked the Indian government to help them return. The seamen have been stuck on the ships for several months, without having moved amid a trade dispute between China and Australia. Isolation on the ships has been adversely impacting the mental health of the seamen, with their families, too, having requested to bring them home.

Anand Fernandes with his family