While six crewmembers from Malaviya Seven have finally made it home to Mumbai after being stranded on ship for 18 months, yet another ship's crew has been stuck at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh for more than six months
While six crewmembers from Malaviya Seven have finally made it home to Mumbai after being stranded on ship for 18 months, yet another ship's crew has been stuck at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh for more than six months.
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Five seamen were onboard the tugboat Malini, which has been detained at Kakinada port after GOL Offshore private limited – the company that owned the boat – failed to pay the dry-docking charges. This is the same company that left the Malaviya Seven crew stranded after hitting bankruptcy.
The Malini crew has not been paid wages for months together, and are unable to leave the ship and go home because of the immigration formalities are incomplete. They can only leave the ship to buy food; the company pays them a measly food allowance of just R10,000 per month for five seamen.
Nilanjan Roy, assistant tug engineer, who is onboard the tugboat, said, "We have not got our wages and are unable to support our families. We are trapped and can find no one to help us."
Another crewmember, Rahul Kumar, said, "We cannot even go home as the company and the government have to sign off on our immigration papers first, but they have not responded to our pleas for help. To avoid starvation and save our lives, even if we leave the ship, without the immigration paperwork, we cannot get another job."
An official from the now liquidated GOL Offshore said, "Our company account was seized by the bank. We are providing food to the crew."
Manoj Yadav, secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India told mid-day, "We have received several complaints from the seamen and have asked the authorities to help them."
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