A cargo ship has been reportedly been detained on charges over nonpayment of dues and deprivation of clean drinking water.
What happened?
The vessel ‘Tahsin’ was after concerns were raised on deprivation of drinking water and nonpayment of wages to its crew members.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) detained the vessel at Sharpness Docks in Gloucestershire after a complaint was received.
Modern slavery:
Inspectors from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) compared working conditions on board the ship to that of “modern slavery”.
The ship’s crew comprised of five Turkish crew members, two Indians and two Georgians, who had not been paid for three months.
The Inspectors were shocked to find that the crew members were reportedly drinking sea water since there was no potable water onboard the vessel for more than 10 days. The crew were also allegedly forced to eat out-of-date food.
Crew members repatriated:
ITF inspector Mr.Darren Proctor said: “None of them had been paid for three months, but the Indian crew had not been paid since joining in September and October 2016, and had to pay to even get the jobs.”
“The master thought it was acceptable to pay the crew every three months and not keep wage accounts.”
Mr Proctor said following the ITF’s intervention, seven crew members have been paid in full and repatriated back to their home countries.
He added that the ship’s captain remains on board and the cook only recently joined.
Vessel detained:
The MCA confirmed that the boat was detained at Sharpness Docks on 2 June, and said it will remain there “for the foreseeable future”.
The vessel had damaged navigational equipment, hatchways and all these conditions have to be rectified before the vessel can be released.
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