Six Pakistani seamen stranded at Egyptian port

KARACHI: Six Pakistani seamen have been stranded at the Egyptian port of Safaga for six months, it emerged on Sunday.

Speaking to Geo News, seaman Zia said that they were forced to live in awful conditions and had not been paid for two months, as the owner of the ship and Egyptian Navy had a conflict over payments.

Zia added that they were kept in the dark about the payment issues at the time of their departure from Pakistan. The Pakistan embassy is also not paying heed to their plight, he added.

Last year, four Pakistani sailors stranded onboard the Kuwaiti cargo ship near the port of Suez returned home through the efforts of Pakistani embassy. A total of 17 Pakistani sailors were stranded onboard the MV AKKAZ, which is anchored in the Suez Canal after the Egyptian government confiscated the vessel for non-payment of dues.

The MV AKKAZ, owned by a Kuwaiti company and chartered by a Dutch firm, had set sail from Abu Dhabi on August 11, 2016 bound for Port Said and Alexandria in Egypt and then onwards to the Netherlands.