The "biggest rescue by the merchant navy” involving the efforts of Capts Viraf Kekobad and Ibrahim Modak to evacuate 722 Indians from war-torn Kuwait in 1990 has been recognized with an entry in the Limca Book of Records 2019. The army of Iraq’s Saddam Hussain had invaded Kuwait and Indian nationals there were desperate to leave. The joint owners of cargo vessel M. V. Safeer, after all necessary permissions, ferried stranded Indian nationals in a four-day journey to Dubai (see "No savior for the saviors,” Parsiana, October 7, 2018).
Top: Hanif Modak (center) felicitated at Noida International Film Festival;
Above: M. V. Safeer; insets: Capts Viraf Kekobad (l) and Ibrahim Modak
A documentary titled Mission Safeer...Thirty-seven Days to Freedom directed and produced by Kekobad and Hanif Modak, son of the late Ibrahim, on the humanitarian effort has won the Best Documentary Jury Award at the 6th International Film Festival at Noida. The 47-minute film can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJT6jtAXFw.
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