Another Russian found dead in Odisha, 3rd death in fortnight

A third Russian citizen was found dead in the Indian state of Odisha on Tuesday, just weeks after the deaths of two other tourists from the country.

The deceased has been identified as 51-year-old engineer Milyakov Sergy. He was found dead onboard a cargo ship docked at Paradip port in Jagatsinghpur district of the state.

He was the captain of the vessel M.B. Aldnah, which was on its way to Mumbai from Chittagong Port in Bangladesh via Paradip. The police believe that he might have died of a heart attack after "suddenly collapsing onboard the ship."

"The cause of his death would be known only after the post-mortem," Superintendent of Police Akhilesvhar Singh, told The Times of India.

His death came days after the deaths of Russian businessman Pavel Antov and his friend Vladimir Budanov. Both of them were on a holiday in the Indian state of Odisha.

While Antov died after falling from the third floor of his hotel in the Rayagada district, Budanov was found lying unconscious in his room with a few empty wine bottles around him. Both deaths are being investigated by the Odisha Police.

Antov was a fervent critic of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. He had recently criticised Russian attacks on Ukraine but retracted the statement soon after.

Recently, a former Russian army chief, Alexei Maslov, with ties to Ukraine, also died "suddenly." His death came a day after President Putin abruptly cancelled a trip to the general's workplace in Nizhny Tagil. The cause of his death is still unknown.

At least 12 high-ranking Russian oligarchs have died since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Most of them had links to the country's energy industry. In several of the aforementioned cases, the deaths were deemed accidental, like falling out of windows or down the stairs.