Adrift in Red Sea…: Fate of stranded Pakistani seafarers hangs in the balance

KARACHI: The fate of six Pakistanis, stranded on a tug boat, Mehr, adrift somewhere in the Red Sea for over 20 days, is still unclear, as the Ministry of Maritime Affairs is unable to help the unregistered sailors and the Tanzanian flag bearing tug’s owner has not turned up.

The issue, besides underscoring a serious human crisis, has also brought to fore the role of fraudulent agents taking advantage of seafarers desperate to join a ship to earn a living.

“They are unregistered sailors. The ministry can’t help it when people smuggle out of the country and board boats in the international waters,” Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi told The News on Saturday. “I have no idea when would they return,” the minister said.

Six Pakistani nationals, crew of a tugboat, are stranded in the Red Sea after its engines broke down while travelling from Oman to Egypt. The maritime ministry acted promptly by sending PNSC’s “MT Khairpur to provide them provision (rice, flour, spices, meat, chicken, biscuits, pulses), mineral water and medicines. Their freshwater storage tank was very dirty which they cleaned and refilled with fresh water for their domestic use. But the crew refused to disembark from the tug fearing loss of wages.

According to the summary of a report provided by Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi, the crew of the tugboat “Mehr” did not want to abandon the vessel as there 8-month salaries remain unpaid as they were transferred from a ship to the tug for the voyage from Oman to Egypt.

According to the ministry official, not all seafarers are able to board ships due to an imbalance in the demand and supply of seafarers. “Some fraudulent agents are taking advantage of this to exploit the seafarers desperate to join a ship.”

Every year, a number of seafarers join merchant shipping through unregistered crewing agencies. “Such agencies pose serious risk to seafarers – vessels are abandoned in the international waters, unpaid wages, prison time from working on board ships carrying illegal cargo, and unaccounted for sea time. The official said all these difficulties not only affect the seafarers themselves but their families also.

Zaidi said the owner of tugboat “had undertaken to rescue the crew in few days. However despite passage of over 20 days, the crew remain at the mercy of the sea, waiting for the tug owner to take them out and give them salaries.”

Earlier last week, when the PNSC provided the food stuffs to the crew of Mehr, it was drifting 100 NM from Jeddah. Ansar Burney, the renowned human rights who highlighted their plight, said the crew remains at the adrift somewhere in the Red Sea, “as the owner of the Tanzanian flag bearing tug has not responded to rescue the crew. The situation is very precarious as without engines, the tug can meet any accident” or even the pirates can further complicate their vulnerabilities. Burney said since it is a humanitarian issue concerning their lives they should be rescued first and later the issue of illegalities committed on part of the crew, the respective agent or any relevant department be addressed,” Some action needs to be taken to resolve the issue, before God forbid, some disaster strikes the crew. “Law must take its course, but lives of six Pakistanis are at stake and they must be protected primarily.”

Being Pakistani nationals, it is incumbent upon the government to save them and once they are back in the country, this must be thoroughly investigated to the fullest extent of law.