The Sevastopol crew, which has remained detained in Mumbai since mid-February, is faced with shortages of food and water, as commented by the Far Eastern branch of the Russian sailors’ trade union chairman on March 13th.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has decided to join the effort of solving the issue by helping the crew members get a special permission for them to receive all the necessary supplies in the upcoming days. The crew is nearly out of food and water supplies, but the situation has not become critical yet.
Due to the fact that the vessel is in neutral waters at the moment, a permission of India’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Mumbai is required in order to deliver the needed supplies. An ITF inspector has committed to getting the permission in question and expectations are that the situation will be solved soon.
The Gudzon shipping company informed the Russian consulate general in Mumbai on February 17th that a Russian vessel had been detained by Indian Coastguard officials in neutral waters at about 110 miles off Mumbai. The detainment occurred three days after the ship had left the port with all necessary permissions from the local authorities.
India’s authorities commented that the ship had been put under arrest in relation to the Madras High Court’s order regarding a commercial dispute between the Russian vessel’s owner and its respective Indian contractor.
The Indian company has placed demands in the amount of $200,000 in order to release the ship. The Russian Foreign Ministry called for both parties to manage and find a mutually accepted solution by which to end this unfortunate commercial dispute.
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