Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 426 posts

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#161

Post by Aerroon »

munk-a wrote: post #81
duxup wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I don't understand what value there is here in assigning it to the crew member who apparently can't decline? Even if he could manage the ship, a random crew member is highly unlikely to have resources to care for a ship like that... what value is there in assigning him this responsibility? They just punishing someone for the sake of it?

> Yeah I don't understand what value there is here in assigning it to the crew member who apparently can't decline? The article doesn't state it really explicitly but I believe he was able to decline but maybe not aware of when that decision would need to be made - specifically this passage here: > "I can't force a judge to remove the legal guardianship," a representative [of the shipping company] told us. "And I can…

>I'd hold the shipping company completely at fault for letting this situation develop - they had options to replace him

Why? Then there would be someone else stuck in that situation. The problem is almost entirely with the Egyptian authorities. Such a situation shouldn't even be possible to develop. The first mate in the article might not have understood the ramifications of what he signed, but the Egyptian court certainly did.

There are all kinds of reasons for why a shipping company would be unable to help. That doesn't mean it should leave a person in a legal limbo. That's on the country rather than the company.

I'm surprised the guy didn't just leave. A country whose laws don't respect you doesn't deserve respect in return.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#162

Post by jfrunyon »

kevmo wrote: post #135
jollybean wrote: post #130

Folks - this is what we are outsourcing and externalizing. When foreign entities are able to bid for a lot less, and pay a lot less, a lot of it has to do with the fact that they will not bother with 'end of life' for ships, or getting insurance, or worrying about the lives of people who are 'expendable'. Those very nice buildings in Dubai come from some nasty labour practices. If every piece of this puzzle from end-…

Nasty labour practices... It's just slavery. This poor gentleman was forced into slavery. You're right that this is what we're outsourcing. All of the corporate trade agreements - American manufacturing was shipped overseas, and American labor forced to compete with what is often a modern form of slave labor.

American manufacturing was shipped overseas because, i.e. after, American labor was unable to compete. I'm not sure what "corporate trade agreements" means either; corporations don't make "trade agreements".

I'm also not sure why everyone takes for granted that America not having as many manufacturing jobs is a bad thing...

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#163

Post by quickthrower2 »

Sargos wrote: post #2

I don't understand why he couldn't just get on another ship and leave forever. Worst case you just never go back to that shitty country right?

He would be a fugitive. Not everyone wants to do that. People in the US sometimes get jailed for years without conviction pending a trail. Why don’t they break out and leave the country? Because that would be a worse situation.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#164

Post by danielheath »

jfrunyon wrote: post #162
kevmo wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nasty labour practices... It's just slavery. This poor gentleman was forced into slavery. You're right that this is what we're outsourcing. All of the corporate trade agreements - American manufacturing was shipped overseas, and American labor forced to compete with what is often a modern form of slave labor.

American manufacturing was shipped overseas because , i.e. after, American labor was unable to compete. I'm not sure what "corporate trade agreements" means either; corporations don't make "trade agreements". I'm also not sure why everyone takes for granted that America not having as many manufacturing jobs is a bad thing...

You mean paid labor couldn’t compete on price with slaves? Color me shocked.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#165

Post by pwillia7 »

Kye wrote: post #107
randyrand wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you are not stranded on Egyptian land. You're at sea. Why not just take some boat home? Or to the nearest non-Egypt country.

The article says the ship had no fuel.

I would have had my brother dinghy out to me one of the passes.... I guess though since this is in a major shipping lane you'd probably get taken out by a ship.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#166

Post by nicklecompte »

crazygringo wrote: post #126
nicklecompte wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently his passport was confiscated[1] so he wouldn’t have been able to do so legally, nor return home even if he did manage to get on a ship. And if you work in international shipping it’s not very good for your career to be blacklisted from Egypt. [1] https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/chief-mate-strand...

I'm curious, if he did manage to get on a ship surely he'd be able to return home to Syria on a ship bound there? I mean, if you're an American citizen heading home and you lose your passport on the walkway to board your plane in France... it's not like America's going to prevent you from entering, right? Surely it's gonna take some time to verify who you are and fix the situation. But it's not like you're forever ba…

According to US law (and I am assuming Syrian law) that is true...assuming the government is stable and the country doesn't have a devastating stalemated civil war. Getting into Syria with a legal passport is difficult enough, and Syrian border officials would have good reason to suspect that he was a foreigner. He would likely be thrown on a plane to Cairo and told to figure it out at the Syrian embassy. Although now that I write it out maybe this wouldn't have been a terrible option (albeit Kafkaesque and prone to several bureaucratic failures - and it doesn't solve the problem of him "abandoning his post" and breaking Egyptian law).

Even so, US authorities do not just take "sorry fellow USicans, I lost my passport" at face value and will likely detain you until you are able to prove you are a citizen, and put you through quite a bit of extra screening and interrogation. Realistically it would be less of an issue for a white person with a bland American accent, since Border Patrol would probably let you call a lawyer or family member to bring a birth certificate. But I am quite sure an El Salvadoran-American who forgot his passport would not be able to enter the US from Mexico without incredible legal difficulty - again to the point where it would be faster and considerably less traumatizing to just go to a consulate and wait a few weeks.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#167

Post by ClumsyPilot »

throwawaysea wrote: post #66

The saddest part of this unfair ordeal is that his mother died while he was confined to this ship, and he couldn’t go visit her or attend the funeral. This article notes, he contemplated suicide then. Shipping companies regularly do this to their crew, abandoning them when the costs of properly managing the situation aren’t worth it to them. Note that ship abandonment is also what led to the devastating explosion in…

If you are at the point where your family is dying, and you are contemplating suicide, the only rational choice is burn down the ship to smithereens and leave it at the bottomn of the ocean. Or rip it to bit and sell the parts.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#168

Post by NullPrefix »

INTPenis wrote: post #42

I don't understand what use he was on that ship? And can't they find any out of work person from shore to take his place? I'm sure there are dozens lining up to get that job for a few pennies an hour. And they might just have family in the area that can help sustain them.

You seem to assume that Aisha was paid for those 4 years. I assume otherwise too, but I did not saw any contradicting evidence.

Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#169

Post by NullPrefix »

tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #26
dQw4w9WgXcQ wrote: post #13

But he is determined. He says he is good at his job and wants nothing more than to pick up where he left off. Meanwhile HN commenters be moaning every time their scrollbar is hijacked by a link or they have to deal with spaghetti code at work like "I'm so burned out"

If this guy was staring at the same code I stare at hours per day he would probably also be moaning at times.

Can someone send a Laptop to Aisha so he could look at spaghetti code?
Post reply on HN