Thirty mariners on board three vessels belonging to one company and registered under the flag of the Caribbean island federation, St Kitts and Nevis, are running out of food and water in an ordeal at sea referred to as “a triple abandonment case”.
Two of the vessels belonging to US project cargo operator, Sea Lion Shipping & Logistics, have been at anchorage off the Emirati Port of Khor Fakkan since July.
Stranded without pay on board the Med Sea Fox and Med Sea Eagle, a bulk carrier and general cargo vessel, the mariners are running out of bare essentials for survival at sea, with one seafarer apparently so distressed he attempted suicide.
In another incident by the same company, mariners on board the Med Sea Lion remain stuck off the Port of Freetown after the bulker was grounded in April because of a cocaine bust.
While the vessels have been apparently abandoned by their owner, St Kitts and Nevis is supposed to assume responsibility for the welfare of the mariners as per the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) act of 2006 it endorses as the flag country of the vessels.
However, St Kitts and Nevis has deregistered the vessels by Sea Lion Shipping & Logistics which is said to be on the ropes due to financial difficulty.
The plight of the mariners appears to be exacerbated by insurance complications preventing underwriters from stepping in on behalf of the seafarers, despite attempts by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to assist them.
NGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Maritime Organization are also conspicuously quiet in hoped-for condemnation of what’s happening off the coast of Sierra Leone and the Gulf of Oman.
St Kitts and Nevis, in particular, has been slated by the ITF for its morally reprehensible neglect of MLC stipulations, despite taking licensing fees for registering the stranded vessels, only to abandon the seafarers in their hour of need.
