Turkish ship crew ‘leaves body of killed engineer in Sri Lanka, continues its journey’

Fırat Alkaç – ISTANBUL

 The crew of a Turkish ship has allegedly left the dead body of an engineering intern, who was killed after suffering an electric shock on the ship, in Sri Lanka before continuing on its journey as if nothing happened.

According to information obtained by daily Hürriyet, 24-year-old Delil Arslan was killed on the GAS CAT ship, which belongs to the TGM Ship Management company, and his dead body was wrapped before being left at the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka.

Arslan started his internship on Sept. 25 on the ship, which set out from Iran en route to Panama, and he was killed while onboard on Sept. 30.

His relatives have gone to Sri Lanka to retrieve his body after receiving the news.

His cousin, Bahar Özhan, said Arslan was killed because of negligence and added that they will file a complaint against the company.

“The management of the ship told us he was killed after being electrocuted while changing lightbulbs. We don’t believe this. Delil lost one of his fingers and there were open wounds in several parts of his body,” Özhan told Hürriyet.

“An engineer friend saw the incident but he continued on the ship after Arslan’s dead body was dropped in Sri Lanka. A legal process has been launched over the incident in Sri Lanka,” she also said.

TGM Ship Management has released a statement, saying that Arslan’s death occurred due to “an unfortunate and saddening accident” but denying allegations of negligence.

“The deceased died as a result of an electric shock. The wounds and injuries on the body of the deceased are the outer reflections of the electric power that went through his body,” the statement read, adding that the ship docked at the Hambonate Port as it was the nearest destination.

“All international rules and practices required to be followed in the event of any death incident on board any vessel have been implemented by our side, and the situation was handled with utmost sensitivity and respect,” it stated.