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Indian Seafarers Face Abandonment on Freighters and Tankers Stuck for Months Without Salaries, Scarce Food, and Little Hope for Safe Return
The Indian Manas Kumar — name changed to protect his identity — was left on a freighter in Ukrainian waters in April. He was the chief officer of the Anka, vessel that was transporting popcorn from Moldova to Turkey with a crew of 14 people.
The ship was intercepted on April 18 while descending the Danube River, which separates Ukraine from Romania.
Ukraine claimed that the freighter was part of Russia’s so-called “ghost fleet,” used to sell looted Ukrainian grain.
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Kumar, however, insisted that the ship was sailing under the Tanzanian flag and operated by a Turkish company.
Documents presented by the crew — five Indians, two Azerbaijanis, and six Egyptians — did not clarify who the true owner of the vessel was.
Months of Uncertainty
Five months after the interception, all were still on board. Kumar recounted that Ukrainian authorities informed them they were free to leave the ship, as they were not under investigation.
The impasse, however, is financial. If they disembark, they lose the accumulated wages, which totalled US$ 102,828 (R$ 550 thousand) by June, according to data from the ILO and IMO.
The crew said they were unaware of the ship’s history when they accepted the job. Now, they live in an uncontrollable situation, waiting for a solution.
Kumar reported that the owner and Indian maritime authorities always promise to resolve it “in one more day,” but nothing concrete has happened. “This is a war zone. All we want is to go home quickly,” he lamented.
The Recurring Problem
India is the second-largest supplier of crew for commercial ships in the world. But it also tops the list of abandonment cases.
The term was formalized in 2006 by the Maritime Labor Convention, describing when shipowners sever ties with the crew and fail to ensure repatriation and wages.
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), 3,133 seafarers were abandoned on 312 vessels in 2024, with 899 being Indian.
For many, leaving the ship without pay is not an option. Many have already paid high amounts to agents to secure employment or training certificates.
The main cause, according to ITF, is linked to the practice of flags of convenience, when ships are registered in countries with weak rules.
International regulations allow a vessel to fly a flag different from the country of origin of its owners. This reduces costs but undermines oversight and crew welfare.
ITF data indicates that 90% of ships abandoned in 2024 sailed under flags of convenience.
The Stratos Case
On January 9, 2025, another group of Indians faced a similar situation. Captain Amitabh Chaudhary — also with a changed name — commanded the Stratos, which was departing from Iraq to the United Arab Emirates.
Bad weather forced a detour, and the ship, under the Tanzanian flag, hit submerged rocks near Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The oil-laden tank was damaged. The crew, consisting of nine Indians and one Iraqi, attempted several times to refloat the vessel but were unsuccessful.
They were stuck for nearly six months while the Iraqi owner refused to pay wages, citing losses from the accident.
During this time, the group faced hunger and fear of sinking. “For days, we had to eat only rice or potatoes because there were no supplies,” said Chaudhary.
Even after managing to get the ship floating again, the rudder was damaged, rendering the Stratos unfit for navigation. The crew remains on board, waiting for payment.
Oversight Failures
Seafarers often criticize the Directorate General of Shipping of India, responsible for overseeing contracts and credentials.
For them, oversight is lenient and allows abandonment situations to recur. The DG did not respond to BBC’s inquiries.
Other experts remind that the crew also needs greater attention when signing contracts. “When you are hired, you have time to inform the DG about discrepancies,” explained Sushil Deorukhkar, ITF representative.
According to him, after signing, the worker is bound to the agreement and needs to seek help at various levels.
The Drama on the Nirvana
Captain Prabjeet Singh also lived months of uncertainty on the Nirvana, an Indian-owned oil tanker registered under the Curacao flag.
He and 22 other crew members were on board when they discovered that the ship had been sold. Payment of wages became a dispute between the old and new owners.
In April, Singh was taking the ship to a port in Gujarat for dismantling when a court ordered its seizure for non-payment.
Shortly after, the crew realized they had been abandoned. “We ran out of food. The ship had little fuel and was completely dark,” he recounted.
Despite managing to disembark in July after a court order, wages had still not been paid, according to the ILO-IMO. Singh said he took the job in October 2024 to secure a better life. Therefore, leaving without payment was never an option.
Human Impact
The stories highlight the extent of the problem. Kumar, Singh, and Chaudhary share the same desire: to return home.
For many seafarers, the biggest challenge is resisting hunger, uncertainty, and the lack of response from shipowners.
In the case of the Stratos, Chaudhary reported psychological exhaustion. “We remain in the same place, in the same situation. Our minds have stopped working; we can’t think about what else we should do,” he stated.
While waiting for solutions, these workers remain far from their families, trapped on ships that have become true floating prisons.
The most important thing for all is to end the nightmare. “Can we get any help? We just want to go home and find our families,” Chaudhary lamented.
With information from BBC.
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