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14 crew members Abandoned on tanker ship since 6 months
Crew of 2 Pakistanis and 12 Indians has been stranded for months with no food and water on a tanker ship anchored at Khor Fakkan.
“We are all sick and dying onboard the vessel. There is no clean water to cook even to dring. We are all unpaid and living like hostages in the sea,” Smigin Subramanian, who is 3rd engineer of the Singaporean tanker Iron Monger 3,” told by phone.
“All we want to escape from this living hell,” he added.
“We haven't taken any money from 6 months. Four seafarers of us were brought from Kerala to Dubai on 17th of January, 2013 on a 6-month contract by recruiting agents Pontus Ship Mgmt. The schedule was to sail to China, demolish the tanker vessel and sell it as scrap, or at least that was what we were told, by the vessel's owner NOS Ship management Pvt Ltd.” Subramanian, 28, added.
The crew members told that they are living in constant danger. “The tanker doesn't have any safety apparatus. Even the fire alarms and navigators aren't working. The medicines are all expired and our only communication with the outside world is through our personal phones,” told Sreejith Kumar, another crew member of the abandoned tanker ship Iron Monger 3.
MAERSK's Eugen Maersk caught fire in the Gulf of Aden
The 11,000-TEU container vessel of Maersk Line, Eugen Maersk caught fire during a sailing to the Port Said, in Egypt. The fire onboard the Eugen Maersk container ship started in 3 containers during the passage through the Gulf of Aden.
The crew members reacted promptly and isolated the fire from spreading to the other containers. The affected containers aboard the Eugen Maersk didn't contain hazardous goods according to the papers and documents.
The incident caused the Eugen Maersk container ship to anchor at Republic of Djibouti where 2 tug vessels assisted with fire fighting and just after ensuring that there is no fire and no any potential risk of a new fire onboard Eugen Maersk the mega-boxship was permitted to enter into Doraleh Container Terminalnow to berth.
The affected containers aboard the Eugen Maersk were discharged and the container ship was inspected by the local maritime authorities. Still the cause for the fire is unknown and the company started investigation for the reasons of the incident.
MOL COMFORT LATEST UPDATE
Latest updates on the accident of the Mitsui O.S.K. Linescontainer ship MOL Comfort as of 23:00 JST (18:00 Dubai time) on 19th of June, 2013. The damaged container ship MOL Comfort is still afloat but couldn't continue floating under its own power from 17th of June, 2013 because the hull broke in two parts while sailing on the Indian Ocean.
Containers on MOL Comfort - several containers might be lost or damaged during the accident, but majority of the cargo are confirmed to be onboard the aft part. The status of the fore part is to be confirmed.
Rescue of the cargo and hulls on MOL Comfort - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines have contracted with a salvage company and are proceeding to rescue operation of the cargo and hulls.
Oil leakage of MOL Comfort - the information for no large volume of oil leakage of MOL Comfort is being confirmed.
Crew of a Cargo vessel Robbed off Miri
The police officials have classified the robbing of some crew members onboard a cargo vessel offshore near Miri on Monday as a case of robbery at sea.
Mun Kock Keong, who is police chief Asst Comm at Miri told whether or not the accident was the work of pirates or just local robbers is being investigated by the maritime and police officials.
"The crew members have lodged an official police report on the accident. We have referred the case to the maritime enforcement agency since it is a case of robbery, which occurred at sea.
"Whether or not pirates are involved in this robbery, they are being investigated," he added when asked about the accident where 3 crew members were told to be injured during a scuffle with a group of masked people that boarded the cargo vessel while it was sailing from the Kuala Baram port to Bintulu.
It was also said that the masked people boarded the cargo vessel in the dark of the night and robbed the crew members of cash and personal items like hand phones.
It was presumed that the robberies were the work of locals and not pirates from other places as there are no nearby islands where pirates can hide out.
The nearest island from Miri is Labuan, which is well-patrolled by security officers.
UPDATE: MOL Comfort Sank
MOL Comfort (ex APL Russia) sank due to yet unclear reasons, sailing from Singapore to Jeddah and after that to North Europe, leaving behind hundreds of drifting containers and a huge aftershock hitting liner sector and all of the maritime industry.
Even the scale of the consequences is hard, impossible, to estimate, not to mention consequences themselves. This is the 1st case in liner sector, when modern ocean-going liner container vessel (built in Japan!) sank in the ocean after breaking in 2 parts, like a poorly built and managed bulk carrier or over aged coaster. Nothing like this ever occurred, and no one believed it was possible, even theoretically. It just could not happen, but still, here it is.
At present stage, even the weirdest theories of the real cause of this accident can not be ignored, something like explosion or several explosions, or whatever else one may fantasize.
Putting aside some exotic versions, most likely causes that come into mind are some basic design and building faults; serious disbalance of the loaded containers weight due to false cargo weight declarations and faulty cargo plan; faulty ballasting of the container ship. Most probably, if that’s the case, the sinking was caused not by just one of the above-mentioned factors, but by their combination, and triggered by rough weather.
If it is going to be found, that there were a few factors involved, then, the questions arise which require sound and unequivocal answers.
- Are there some basic faults rooted deep inside ocean-going container vessels design, building and management, or was the disaster the result of a combination of negative factors.
- If it’s a combination of negative factors, what is the presumption of such a combination, is it negligibly small, or the odds of another incident are alarmingly high.
- What is the cost of lowering those odds, and how is it going to affect liner business and freight.
The questions of insurance and cargo loss coverage for shippers, especially minor ones, is also important, too.
We do not also have to forget another risk quite a number of experts are already worried over – the risk of major fire on a giant ocean-going container vessel.
One thing is clear, though. The liner sector, 1st of all majors, are going to do whatever it takes to hide unfavorable factors and especially, basic faults, if there are any. The awesome container transportation mechanism they created may not stand serious modifications, called by safety needs.
