Why India tops the list of abandoned sailors
BBC News, Delhi
BBCManas Kumar*has been abandoned on a cargo ship in the waters of Ukraine since April.
When the Indian sailor raided the ship on April 18, he set out for the Danube River, which divided Ukraine and Romania, was a part of a crew from Moldova to Türkiye.
Ukraine claimed that Anka was a part of Russia’s “Shadow” fleet, which was used to sell third countries to sell “looted” cereals.
However, Mr. Kumar, the chief officer of Anka, said that the ship ran under the flag of Tanzania and was ruled by a Turkish company.
However, Mr. Kumar, which is exactly the owner of the ship, is not clear from the newspapers of two Azerbaijani and six Egyptians, as well as the other five Indian citizens.
Gambling, all still five months later, although Ukrainian officials reported that they were free to leave because they were not under investigation.
The problem means that the crew has lost their salaries – according to a common database of abandoned ships carried out by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Naval Organization (IMO), until June.
The BBC has reached the management and owners of the ship for the details provided by the crew.
Mr. Kumar says he’s not aware of the ship’s past while taking the job of the crew. Now the crew, which is stuck in a situation far beyond their controls, wants a quick solution.
He says that the owner and Indian shipping officials continue to ask for us one more day to solve the crisis, but there has been nothing promising yet.
“This is a war area. All we want is to return home.” He said.
India is the second largest supplier of sailors and the crew of commercial ships globally.
But at the same time, when the luminaires break their ties with the crew and cannot provide them for return, regular provisions and wages, they are at the top of the list of crew members known as “abandoned sailors”, which is a term used by the 2006 Naval Working Convention.
According to the International Federation of Transportation Workers (ITF), which represented sailors globally, there were 3.133 abandoned sailors on 312 ships in 2024 – Indian citizens formed 899.
For many, it is not possible to leave the ship without salaries – especially if they have already paid heavy amounts to agencies to land or get training certificates, Muhammad Gulam Ansari, a former sailor who helps to send the Indian team back to other parts of the world, tells the BBC.
According to ITF, the most important reason for abandonment is the widespread application of recording of ships called convenience flags in countries with weak shipping rules.
International maritime rules allow a ship to be registered or marked in a country different from its owners.
“A country may reduce standards for crew security and prosperity, and often a real flag state that cannot fulfill the responsibilities of a real flag state,” ITF website, can create fees. “
The group says that this system also hides the identity of the real owner who helps suspicious owners to endure.
ITF data show that approximately 90% of abandoned ships in 2024 sail under a flag of comfort.
However, complications emerge due to the globalized nature of the shipping industry, as the sector observers, owners, flags and teams of the ship, and the globalized nature of the shipping industry.
On January 9, 2025, captain Amitabh Chaudhary*was led a cargo ship from Iraq to the United Arab Emirates when the bad weather forced him to deviate.
Minutes later, he hit the rocks under the Tanzanian-Bayraklı Stratos ship and damaged the oil-laden tank and forced an unplanned stop near the Jubail port of Saudi Arabia.
The crew, including nine Indians and one Iraq, made several attempts to swim again, but they failed.
They were stuck, waited for help for about six months before the ship was refilled.
In the meantime, the ship’s Iraqi owner refused to pay his salaries by referring to the losses caused by a stopped ship, and in the Chaudhary BBC told.
The BBC reached the owners of the ship to respond to these claims, but they did not respond.
BBC/ITFSeafarers usually accuse India’s maritime organizer, the General Directorate of Shipping (DG), which is assigned to verify the identity of ships, owners and recruitment and settlement agencies. DG transport did not respond to the request for comments.
However, others point out that even the crew should be more vigilant.
“When you are hired, you have enough time to inform DG transport [about any discrepancies in your contract]”Sushil Deorukhkar said, an ITF representative working for the welfare of the sailors.” After signing the papers, you get stuck and knock on each door for resolution. “
Even for the crew of Indian ships operating in the waters of the country for various reasons, things may be complex.
Captain Prabjeet Singh was employed in Nirvana, Curacao-Fagged Oil Tanker, owned by India, who is a member of 22 Indian crew. Recently, it was sold to a new owner who wanted to be excluded from service, and his salaries were under dispute between new and old owners.
In early April, when Mr. Singh ordered a seizure order to avoid payment of the crew “, according to the ILO-Imo database, he took it to a port in Western India, Gujarat, Western India.
Singh noticed that the crew had been abandoned within a few days. “There was not enough food and provisions. The ship was finished and we were in full darkening.” He said. “We were forced to break and burn the ship’s wood to cook.”
Ruled in October 2024, Mr. Singh hoped to make a good life with this business, and so leaving the ship without salaries was not a suitable option for him.
The crew can finally land on July 7 after a solution by the court order. However, according to the ILO-İMO database, the fees of the crew remain unpaid despite the court decision.
When he returned to the Gulf, the Stratos crew said that his biggest fears were the hole under the ship would sink him.
However, urgent difficulty was hunger.
“We had to eat rice or potatoes for days, because there was no material,” he told the BBC last week.
About six months later, the crew finally managed to withdraw the ship – but the accident was damaged and made it appropriate to set sail.
The crew is still waiting for the salaries to be paid.
“We are still in the same place in the same situation. The mind stopped working, what can I think of [more] We have to do it, Mr. Chaudhary said.
“Can we get some help? We just want to go home and meet our loved ones.”
*Some names have been changed to protect identity
