CHENNAI: Cheated and abandoned on an arrested ship, MV Fatma Eylul, at the Ambarli Port in Istanbul, Turkey, 12 Indian sailors, including two from Tamil Nadu, have been stranded without a penny for the last three-and-a-half months.
The sailors, who were duped by an Indian Recruitment and Placement Services License (RPSL) agent, are clinging onto hopes, waiting to be reunited with their families and receive their pending wages.
“Free us or kill us. We feel helpless, with our families in desperate financial crisis. We have been asked not to leave the ship,” said Cleetus Jesudasson, the ship’s captain.
The 49-year-old Nagercoil native said he is going ‘insane’ after being locked up in a ship and told not to set foot on the shore by the port authorities. In a desperate SOS appeal to the Director General of Shipping, the union government and the state government, the crew have urged to be reunited with their families.
“We were recruited by NAMS Ship Management- RPSL 268, in Navi Mumbai and RAS Ship Management, in Belapur, Navi Mumbai. The manning agents did not disclose that the ship we are joining is under arrest and laid up in the wharf,” Cleetus said. The ship was arrested by Turkish authorities after the owner did not pay salaries nor provide provisions to the previous crew in September.
The agents wilfully suppressed facts and tricked us into joining this ship. We seek action against the manning agents for putting our lives at risk, he added.
“After boarding the ship, we realised that the ship had not been sailing for long. The ship’s condition is very bad. On June 16, the Protection and Indemnity cover will expire. We are living in pathetic conditions, and are supplied with a limited quantity of food,” said Kannan Rajendran, another seafarer from Thirumazhisai, near Chennai.
When TNIE contacted Deputy Director General of Shipping, Captain Manish Kumar, he said notices are being issued to the agents. A RPSL agent’s licence was also cancelled. “We are aware of the issue and have asked officials to get the status. We are coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs to bring them back. We have contacted our embassy in Turkey also,” he said. It is also learnt that the ship’s ownership has been transferred. An RPSL agent has requested the captain to send a letter to the Director General of Shipping and that the owner will clear the dues by month-end. NAMS’ official did not respond to TNIE.
Kumar also said if the ship owner is unable to pay the salary, then the RPSL companies must pay as they are responsible for the contract.
“The cancellation of the RPS license is not going to help the distressed seafarers. The government must enact law with penal provision and jail term for manning agents who wilfully put seafarers life at risk. The penal provision will be a deterrent. In the Philippines any person found guilty of illegal recruitment shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than twelve years and one day, but not more than 20 years and a fine of not less than One Million pesos (around Rs 14,60,000),” said Manoj Joy of the Sailors Society