A young Tanzanian sailor is alleged to have committed suicide aboard a ship in the Netherlands.
Fadhil Mohamed Omar, as indicated on his passport, is a 30-years-old Tanzanian seafarer, who hails from Moshi Urban District of Kilimanjaro region, in the Northern parts of the country.
Born in May 1994 Fadhil had his East African travel document issued in Dar-es-salaam five years ago in January 2020 and the international passport was still valid until 2030.
Why he decided to take his own life aboard the Ship Rawabi in Holland remains a mystery.
Reports that have been making rounds on social media and online platforms, claim that the late Fadhil Omar had hanged himself in the Rawabi ship’s cabin as the vessel docked at the Port of Rotterdam.
The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world’s largest seaport outside of Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands.
The late Mohamed Omar is believed to have been a sailor, working for the Rawabi Vallianz Marine company of the United Arab Emirates.
But did Fadhil really commit suicide? Was he killed, was the deceased stressed or under the influence of something? So far there are no answers.
A fellow Tanzanian sailor who is also working for the Rawabi Marine, identified as Jacob Mnzava with a cellular phone number +255 713 257 924 is said to have more information about the late Omar and what exactly could have transpired aboard the ship in Holland.
Relatives of the deceased may also use the same number to trace Omar’s body and maybe even make arrangements to ship his body back to Tanzania for burials.
The International Maritime Health (IMH) recently released a review assessing available evidence on the frequency of and trends in depression and suicide among seafarers.
According to IMH investigations of depression and suicide are scarce and the findings are inconsistent, they do, nevertheless, show indications of improvement although some recent case series do indicate that suicide remains a problem.
The IMH says the review of additional indicators for mental distress and lack of wellbeing supports the decline in frequency of problems, but nuances this in terms of the relative risks in different groups of seafarers, showing internal variations in the frequency of mental health issues among seafarers, with markers such as rank, type of voyage, gender, age, nationality and crew multiculturalism being relevant variables.