New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): India's high commissioner in Ghana Monday reached the west African country of Togo to pursue the release of Indian merchant ship captain Sunil James and two other Indian sailors who are in jail there since July.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that the high commissioner was "in Togo today (Monday) to pursue case of Indian sailors including Capt Sunil James with relevant officials".

James's family is seeking his release so that he could return home for the last rites of his 11-month-old son Vivaan who died Dec 2 of septicaemia in a Mumbai hospital. The body is in the morgue of a Mumbai hospital.

James had stopped at Togo to report an attack on his ship MT Ocean Centurion by pirates when he was arrested July 31 along with two other crew members for allegedly aiding the pirates.

His wife Aditi and other relatives met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week to urge him to intervene so that James could be allowed to come home for the last rites of his child.