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The sailor living alone on an abandoned cargo ship
Just a few miles from where the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, there's an abandoned ship, with one Syrian seaman on board. He's been there 4 years, and is now alone. He signed papers from the Egyptian authorities as having legal responsibility for guarding the ship (he says without understanding what he was signing), and they have his passport and won't give it back.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-56606749
His mother died two years ago. The owners are trying to sell the ship, and say they can't get anyone else to replace him, so he's stuck there. Poor guy.
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Four years at sea, now just metres from shore: 'living hell' of stranded UAE ship
Five seafarers are stuck in limbo on a beached tanker after a long, terrifying ordeal of abandonment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/15/living-hell-of-stranded-uae-ship-iba
/snip/
The crew are owed $230,000 (£170,000) in unpaid wages, the seafarers say. Alco Shipping was blacklisted by the Indian government in 2018 due to abandonment cases.
If the crew set foot on land, they risk being detained for not having the right documents. Win’s passport, which expired while he has been at sea, remains with his former employer. And with a military coup at home, it is unclear how he will get a new one. Furthermore, international law prohibits “ghost ships” at sea without crew because they are a safety hazard.
Cases of seafarer abandonment are at a record high, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has said. Hotspots for abandonment are the Middle East and Asia, with the UAE top of the list in 2020, followed by China, Taiwan, Turkey and Italy. Liberia, Malta and Panama were the flag states with the most cases last year, IMO and International Labour Organization data showed.
/snip/
Following another abandonment case highlighted by the Guardian in 2019, the UAE said a law to seize abandoned ships was under discussion. In 2018, the country brought in regulations similar to a maritime labour convention amendment, which require vessels to carry insurance, so that abandoned seafarers get paid up to four months’ wages. But it came too late for the Iba seafarers, who were abandoned in 2017.
/snip/
Much more at link with pics and video
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/15/living-hell-of-stranded-uae-ship-iba
______________________________________________________________________
I had no idea this sort of thing was happening, and almost commonplace.
Sad indeed
W
Five seafarers are stuck in limbo on a beached tanker after a long, terrifying ordeal of abandonment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/15/living-hell-of-stranded-uae-ship-iba
/snip/
The crew are owed $230,000 (£170,000) in unpaid wages, the seafarers say. Alco Shipping was blacklisted by the Indian government in 2018 due to abandonment cases.
If the crew set foot on land, they risk being detained for not having the right documents. Win’s passport, which expired while he has been at sea, remains with his former employer. And with a military coup at home, it is unclear how he will get a new one. Furthermore, international law prohibits “ghost ships” at sea without crew because they are a safety hazard.
Cases of seafarer abandonment are at a record high, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has said. Hotspots for abandonment are the Middle East and Asia, with the UAE top of the list in 2020, followed by China, Taiwan, Turkey and Italy. Liberia, Malta and Panama were the flag states with the most cases last year, IMO and International Labour Organization data showed.
/snip/
Following another abandonment case highlighted by the Guardian in 2019, the UAE said a law to seize abandoned ships was under discussion. In 2018, the country brought in regulations similar to a maritime labour convention amendment, which require vessels to carry insurance, so that abandoned seafarers get paid up to four months’ wages. But it came too late for the Iba seafarers, who were abandoned in 2017.
/snip/
Much more at link with pics and video
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/15/living-hell-of-stranded-uae-ship-iba
______________________________________________________________________
I had no idea this sort of thing was happening, and almost commonplace.
Sad indeed
W
