A sister’s sleepless night, a brother’s coffin: Last journey home of Indian seafarer killed in war

By 3.30 am, Mitali and her father Amratlal were in a car. They reached the terminal by 4 am and were told to return after an hour. They did not leave.

It had already been three days since the family had moved the Bombay High Court for the repatriation of Solanki’s remains, filing an urgent plea citing weeks of delay and silence. The family believes that this move was what finally got things moving — the matter is scheduled to be heard April 6 by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad.

Sunday was yet to dawn but the cargo section at the terminal was busy, consignments moving under dim lights while father and daughter stood outside completing paperwork, coordinating with officials by phone, waiting for clearances that came one by one across the next several hours.

When an official arrived around 6.45 am to process additional documentation, a pass was finally issued, but only one family member could go inside. “I will go,” said Amratlal. “I want to see everything. How he is brought, what is being brought.”

It took nearly two more hours — a first round inside, a trip to Sahar police station to submit documents, a return to the terminal, another round of verification — before the coffin was finally handed over. When Amratlal emerged from the cargo area, Mitali rushed toward the ambulance waiting outside, reaching out to touch the box that carried her brother’s remains.

They checked the name and details written on the surface, made sure the documentation matched, and stood there for a moment before the ambulance moved toward the mortuary.

Father Amratlal Solanki and sister Mitali Solanki received the skeletal remains of seafarer Dixit Solanki on Sunday morning (April 5, 2026) at the Mumbai International Airport’s cargo section. (Express Photo/Ganesh Shirsekar)

The family has decided not to proceed with the last rites until a DNA test confirms the identity of the remains. They have sought help from the Directorate General of Shipping and the shipping company, both of whom have assured support. A senior official from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said necessary arrangements for the test were being explored.

It was on March 1 that Solanki became the first Indian casualty in the conflict following a missile strike that led to an explosion and fire on board the oil tanker MKD Vyom in the Arabian Sea, about 70 nautical miles off Oman’s capital Muscat.

“We have waited for over 35 days. We can wait a few more days,” Mitali said. “We will only put him to rest once all our doubts are cleared. We do not want to live the rest of our lives with the question — what if these were not his remains?”

Dixit Solanki, a 32-year-old seafarer, died aboard a vessel caught in the West Asia conflict. (Express Photo)

She said those doubts had been shaped by what had transpired. According to the family, when Amratlal went to meet the rescued crew members who had returned to Mumbai, he was not allowed to speak to them directly, or to record any conversation.

The shipping company’s internal investigation report, which the family had been requesting for weeks, was shared with them only on April 4, the day before the remains arrived. “From the photos in the report, the ship does not appear to be severely damaged,” Amratlal said. “None of the crew who returned seem to have lost their belongings. But we have still not received my son’s personal items such as his trolley bag, his laptop, his phone, his hard drives. Nothing.”

The remains are now at the mortuary, and the family is ready to file an FIR at the local police station to initiate the DNA testing process. “The compensation and money do not matter when a son is lost,” Solanki’s father said. “If he had earned and brought that money home himself, it would have been different. How can we use money that comes from his death?”