DUBAI Three sailors have been living in squalor without electricity and pay for months aboard a vessel berthed in Ajman.
The able seamen from India - Jitendra Singh Rawat, 22, Chhatrapal Ganwar, 20, and Bhupendra Singh, 22 - told XPRESS they have have not been paid for 17 months and have had no electricity on board their launch Nikolas for five months.
“It’s miserable here inside. We have been asking the ship owner to pay our dues and set us free. He keeps telling us he will do it, but that has not happened so far. We are planning to file a complaint with the local police as we are reaching a deadend here,” said Rawat. The men said they paid Dh25,000 each to an agent in India to secure a job aboard Nikolas. “My father took a loan for this. My younger brother and sister’s college admissions are on hold because I have not been able to send money home. We were promised a monthly salary of Dh735 which we did not get even once. I don’t know when I will get out of this misery,” said Rawat.
He said the sailors have been living off the generosity of crew members of other ships who have been providing food and water. “We borrowed electricity from another ship for a while, but it sailed last week. The only saving grace is that there is water in the toilets, but we don’t know how long that will last. Please rescue us,” pleaded Ganwar.
Dubai charity Angel Appeal, an arm of the global charity The Mission to Seafarers is co-ordinating efforts to help the sailors. “Nikolas has been idle for the last five months. It doesn’t have a flag or a maritime registration number. There are no air-conditioners or generators inside. The workers don’t have basic tools for repair or maintenance and no brooms to keep the ship clean inside. They are living in a pathetic state,” said chaplain Nelson Fernandez.
“The first impression of the ship looks like it has been discarded as it hasn’t been painted for long. There is no gangway and the name of the ship has been written in a primitive style (hand brushed). The engine, however, is in good condition,” Fernandez added.
Paul Burt of Angel Appeal which helped 657 seafarers last year, said: “It is against the law to not pay seafarers their salaries, but there is a need for various stakeholders to come forward and enforce this law strictly.”
“Harbour masters usually don’t get involved in a case unless it affects the efficient running of a port. But if the maritime law is practised more strictly, we will not see so many stranded sailors in the UAE ports,” said the regional director of the mission.
A comment was not immediately available from the ship owner.