Captain Sunil James at the airport in Mumbai on Friday
Merchant navy captain Sunil James who returned to Mumbai yesterday after being released from a jail in Togo in western Africa after five months says he felt "helpless" when he was informed of his 11-month-old son Vivaan's death.
"Any father in such a situation is very helpless. I was sitting there and praying to God to let me see my son one last time," he told NDTV.
Captain James' homecoming was weighed down by the tragic death of his son who died of septicemia earlier this month. His family had refused to perform the infant's last rites till he had seen him one last time. The baby's body was kept in a morgue in Mumbai.
Captain James was freed along with another sailor Vijayan after India's High Commissioner in Ghana, K Jeeva Sagar, met Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe.
The sailors were arrested in July on charges of helping pirates who had attacked and looted their ship, MT Ocean Centurion, near the tiny African country that borders Ghana. Captain James' family had been making desperate attempts to secure his release since then.
Last week, his family members met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his help in getting the sailor freed.
At the Mumbai airport yesterday, Captain James thanked the Indian community in Togo and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for helping him. "What happened is in the past. I would like to look at the future," he said.