UP Merchant Navy officer went to a mall in Pennsylvania. He never came back

A native of Mirzapur, Manish was serving as a second officer aboard a merchant vessel.

“When the ship reached the port, it was around 4 am in India, so Manish sent us a message saying the vessel had docked because he did not want to disturb us,” said Santosh. “That was the last message we received. Since then, there has been no trace of him.”

For his father, that simple update has since become a haunting final memory.

For more than a week, Santosh — a father gripped by fear and uncertainty — has been moving from one government office to another, knocking on doors, meeting officials, and pleading with public representatives in a desperate effort to find his only son thousands of miles away. With each day that passes without answers, the family’s anguish has only deepened.

On Sunday morning, Santosh met Union minister Anupriya Patel, urging her to use every possible channel to help locate Manish.

“Today morning, I met local MP and Union minister Anupriya Patel. She assured me that every possible effort is being made to trace my son, and that communication has already been established with the Ministry of External Affairs as well as the Indian embassy in the United States,” said Santosh.

For Santosh and his family, those words offer a fragile sense of hope amid an increasingly painful ordeal. Their son has spent the last six years building a life at sea after completing his training at a merchant navy institute in Mumbai. What began as a career of ambition and international travel has now left his loved ones facing a nightmare far from home.

His family recalls that he returned home in January this year for a brief break, spending precious time with them. On April 16, he left home for what was supposed to be another routine voyage, travelling from Paris for an assignment bound for the United States, added the father.

Back in Mirzapur, his family remains trapped in a cycle of fear, uncertainty, and desperate appeals for help.

“I was told that on May 6, after the vessel docked at a port in Philadelphia, Manish went to a shopping mall with two fellow officers, both Russian nationals,” said Santosh. “The two officers later returned to the vessel, but Manish never came back.”

‘Manish would call his family every day’

By all accounts, Manish had made video calls a daily ritual to stay connected with home. His father says Manish regularly made video calls, often every day, updating his family about the ship’s journey, his whereabouts, and the ordinary details of life at sea — small moments that reassured them he was safe.

That steady connection was suddenly broken without warning.

“More than 10 days have passed, and we are deeply worried about his life because he has never disappeared like this before,” Santosh said. “Since May 7, he has not contacted any family member or relative. We last spoke to him on May 6. After that, there has been no phone call, no message — nothing.”

“I have been continuously approaching government officials, and on May 11, I first met local MP Anupriya Patel in Delhi to seek her help,” he said.

The family first learned that Manish was missing on the afternoon of May 7, when the shipping company that had employed him contacted them directly. The call came as a shock.

The company’s officials asked whether Manish had reached out to his family, informing them that he had been missing for the previous four hours. It was then that the family was told that while Manish’s two colleagues, who had accompanied him to the mall, had safely returned to the vessel, he had disappeared without any trace.