The captain and crew of a cargo ship found one of the sailors lying dead near his cabin in a vessel anchored at Dhamra port in Odisha’s Bhadrak district on Sunday, The New Indian Express said.

The ship, Bedford Castle, having a Panama registration, has been here for the past two days, loading iron ore to be transported to China.

Police sources said the body of Hettiarachige Sugath Criyantha De Silva (44) was spotted by the crew members near his cabin. De Silva, a Sri Lankan national, was a deck fitter of the ship owned by Navalmar (UK) Ltd company. The captain of the ship told police that De Silva had dined with him the previous night. The sailor is suspected to have died of a cardiac arrest.

“We recovered the body from the ship and sent it for postmortem examination. The crew had wrapped the body in a polythene sheet and kept it inside the cold storage of the vessel, to preserve it. He is suspected to have died of cardiac arrest. The autopsy report is awaited,” said an official from Dhamra marine police station.

The ship with 23 crew members, including its Captain from Pakistan and rest from Sri Lanka, is likely to leave for China with iron ore in next week.

Chandabali sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Tarun Das said after autopsy the body had been sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack for preservation. “The Sri Lankan Embassy has been informed about the incident. We are waiting for communication from them to send the body,” he added.