Schumi-2

A 22-year-old Goan youth and 13 other Indians are crying for immediate help, as the ship they have been working on has been detained by naval officials in Djibouti port after their captain left the ship two months back. The 14 Indians are a part of a 20-member crew on board LPG/C Windsor merchant ship. The crew members claim that they have not been supplied with basic amenities like food and fresh drinking water in addition to non-payment of wages for the last two months and they are stranded in the middle of the sea with no option to return home. The Goan youth stranded on the ship is Nikon Philip Dias (22), a resident of Ponda. He was recruited on the ship as a general steward. He had recently completed his steward training course and had taken up his first job on the ship. Apart from him, the crew on the ship includes 13 other Indians from different states, two members from Bulgaria, two from Ukraine and two security officers from Philippines. The crew members alleged that the ship was in bad shape when they reported for work in January. However, they decided to continue working but things did not change. They started facing trouble with garbage getting piled up on the ship. Pleas to the fleet operator and ship owner fell on deaf ears, they said. The crew members later sent a first collective letter of protest, as no food and drinking water were provided by the company. “There is too much of garbage on board, as it has not been discharged and it has become a health concern for us,” said chief officer, LPG Windsor, Yevgen Bondarenko. http://www.navhindtimes.in/goan-youth-stranded-on-merchant-ship-in-djibouti/