21 Filippino seafarers abandoned on MV A Ladybug seek for help
Twenty-one Filipino seafarers have been abandoned off the port of Malta for months and are looking for compensation from their financially stricken company. The Tawainese company has essentially surrendered them at ocean with no fuel and restricted nourishment and water.
The cargo ship MV A Ladybug, a Panamanian-flagged vehicle carrier had been untied in the range of 15 nautical miles or around 28 kilometers off Maltese port limits.
Vessel A Ladybug
(Image courtesy of Shipspotting, Photographer:Richard Wisse)
According to news site Malta Today, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) stated recently that two members of the Philippine Embassy in Rome, which additionally administrates Malta, visited the seafarers on board the abandonded MV A LadyBug, a Taiwanese-owned cargo carrier, and provided them with a few supplies.
Throughout the gathering of the Embassy team with the seafarers, the seafarers said they would like to be repatriated at the nearest conceivable opportunity, however just after they accept pending wages from the Taiwanese-owned Company, which they have not received for three months even though 11 of them have completed their contracts. Four more are due to finish by August, a report of the United Filipino Seafarers said.
The local representative of ITF Mr Falzon stated the notice of arrest was directly conveyed to the crew by a court official who went onboard the cargo ship.
He trusted the owner company might now settle the debate without the need for further legitimate actions, which could eventually bring about the court requesting the vesse’s A Ladybug sale.