Eight Indian seafarers have been abandoned in Walvis Bay, between the timeframe of one and two years, onboard the St. Vincent and Grenadines-flagged vessel, Halani 1. The abandonment resulted to seafarers’ suffering from fatigue and serious mental health problems. As a result, the UK-based Charity ‘Human Rights at Sea’ stated that Captain Amarjit Singh Bajwa first contacted the charity’s Iran-based researcher, Hajar Hejazi, to appeal for urgent help.
Specifically, Human Rights At Sea charity published a study ‘In their own words’ in order to publicly claim and present the seafarers’ experience.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
The crew of Halani 1 is facing serious problems, such as unpaid wages, physical and mental health problems, as also two alleged suicides over the non-payment, according to the study.
Yet, the last two weeks the vessel’s Master has communicated with the charity, because the issue of payment of wages has not been rectified and P&I cover has lapsed.
Welfare support has been provided by The Mission to Seafarers with Ben Bailey, Director of Advocacy and Regional Engagement reported that the charity is concerned for the seafarers’ mental health, which is being declined day by day.
The crew have been let down on multiple occasions and have had promises of full wages and repatriation consistently broken. We urgently call on all parties to work together to find a solution.
Moreover, Bailey continued that the seafarers should be repatriated and return to their families.
David Hammond, Founder and Trustee of Human Rights at Sea stated that the charity will continue showcase abusive labor and human rights practices from the first-hand perspective of seafarers.
In addition, seafarers support that they are being held against their will as they have completed their contracts.
Concluding, one seafarer from Halani 1 noted:
We have been on board too long. The morale of the crew has been running low and the mental health is not good. Frequent arguments on issues, loss of temper at even the slightest excuse and general indifferent attitude are all part of our everyday lives.
For more information, see the PDF herebelow
