GORAKHPUR, July 21 -- A pall of gloom descended on Karmel village under Gauri Bazar police station in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district after its 22-year-old native Abhishek Nishad, a sailor, was killed in a Russian missile strike near the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Sunday.

Nishad was among four Indian seafarers killed in the missile attack on a Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship, which claimed 10 lives, including Indian and Syrian crew members, making it one of the deadliest recent attacks on commercial shipping in the region.

The bereaved family has appealed to the Centre to facilitate the return of Abhishek's mortal remains to India. His father Kaushal Nishad, 50, said the family was informed of his death by the shipping company.

"On Ju...