Sushma asks envoy to get body with Emerald Star jacket exhumed

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked the Indian Ambassador in the Philippines to initiate steps to exhume the body of a person with a life jacket that has a marking of the Emerald Star, the cargo ship which sank off Okinawa over a month ago, for identification.

MV Emerald Star, that had 26 Indians on board, sank on October 13, 2017. While 16 Indians were rescued, the remaining 10 could not be found.

In a series of tweets, Sushma said the Coast Guard of Philippines has informed India that an unidentified decomposed body of a person with a life jacket with a marking of Emerald Star was found on October 28 in the island city of Banua.

"Since the body was decomposed, it was buried there," Sushma said, adding that she has asked the Indian Ambassador in Manila that the body be exhumed and brought to Manila for identification through DNA testing.

She said the search operation for missing Indians was going on.