Captain returns home after being stuck in port of Adabiya

According to ITF, most of Captain Kara’s long year in Egypt was aboard his ship, the Panama-registered MV Kenan Mete. The Kenan Mete became abandoned in June 2020, when the vessel’s owners, Blodwen Marina, refused to pay the crew. Egyptian authorities then seized the ship with a view to selling it to cover its debts, including the crew’s pay.

Howeve, an Egyptian court determined that someone, must become the ship’s legal guard. Similar to the fate that navigational officer Mohammad Aisha who was made legal guardian of the MV Aman for four years, Captain Kara was blocked from leaving the vessel by his new legal status.

Under the leadership of the ITF’s Arab World and Iran network coordinator Mohamed Arrachedi, the federation secured the release and repatriation of almost all the crew between October 2020 and January 2021, along with four months’ pay.

Howeverm Egypt’s legal guardian system prevented the ship’s master from following his crewmates off the ship and home to their families.

At this stage, the captain remained hostage on board and was not allowed to leave, or even go ashore, despite the clear abandonment situation

said Arrachedi, recalling.

In late June 2021, a breakthrough came in the fight to get Kara home to Turkey. Namely, ITF took up his cause andorganised a replacement as judicial guard. As a result, after months of campaigning for his release, Captain Kara was allowed to go home.

With the immigration paperwork completed and flights purchased, Kara headed for the airport.

Maritime work is hard at the best of times. But I have only survived the last 14 months because the ITF was always by my side. God bless all your hard work

said Captain Kara

Now, Arrachedi hopes Kara’s case provides a prompt for Egypt to take a closer look at how it deals with abandoned vessels and the seafarers onboard, especially coming so soon after Mohammad Aisha’s abandonment experience in the Suez received worldwide attention.