ITF: 13 Crew Abandoned in Sri Lanka, Ship Arrested

Thirteen crew members of the general cargo ship Sanad were “left close to starvation” after they were abandoned in Colombo, Sri Lanka, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

The vessel was reportedly abandoned by its owner, the Bahrain-based Tylos Shipping & Marine, and arrested on September 7 for unpaid charges to the port authorities.

ITF inspector Ranjan Perera, who has been helping the six Indian, four Jordanian and three Myanmar seafarers from the Bahrain-flagged cargo ship, reported that the “have been left without food or drinking water, and with dwindling fuel reserves that could shut down the generators, posing a serious danger to the crew.”

ITF further said that the owner also failed to pay the crew their wages for the last five months.

The organization in Sri Lanka is supplying the crew with some food stocks and drinking water, while working with ITF headquarters in London, UK to resolve the situation for the seafarers.

Sanad’s earlier AIS data, provided by Marine Traffic, shows that the vessel arrived in Colombo in early June, 2017.