MATTER OF TIME

Coronavirus Cruise Crew Pleads for Help: ‘Soon We Will All Be Infected’

One Diamond Princess staffer said his team was still serving meals to passengers in their rooms and are “scared who will be next.”

Several members of the crew trapped aboard a coronavirus-hit cruise ship off the coast of Japan have issued a desperate plea to be released. Indian crew members posted a video to Facebook on Monday in which they begged the Indian government to come and rescue them. The Washington Post named one of the crew members as Binay Kumar Sarkar, 31, who said he was one of about 160 Indian crew members on the ship. Sarkar said his team was still serving meals to passengers in their rooms three times a day but they’re all “scared who will be next.” He told the newspaper that all healthy people on board should be allowed to leave and said he fears that keeping everyone trapped on the boat means “very soon we will all be infected.” The Diamond Princess, which is docked off Yokohama, has been placed under a 14-day quarantine that will last until next week. There are over 3,700 passengers and crew onboard, and only the 136 who have tested positive for the virus have been allowed to leave for treatment.