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Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

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251–260 of 426 posts

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

#251
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 ce…

I'm really unfamiliar with maritime laws but I wouldn't be surprised if seizing unmanned boats that are flying the flags of a different country but within your waters is somehow a touchy international grey-zone. This situation was created by the country essentially leaving a 4k tonne vessel derelict off the coast of Eygpt after failing to pay to fuel its ride home so there isn't going to be an easy answer here. It mi…

>Egypt might be in a position where they've got a rusting leaking hunk of trash off their coast that they can't remove without causing an international incident and, forcing some member of the company to remain with the wreck might just be intended to force the company to actually call in salvagers to resolve the situation

Removing a ship could cause an international incident, but forcing a person to stay alone on a ship without proper living conditions for years wouldn't? Imagine if the guy wasn't Syrian, but was an American instead. This would've either been resolved quickly or there would've been an international incident that would've put the removal of a ship to shame.

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

#252
post #241
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what company. One headed by people like Ross Perot ( RIP ) definitely will. The other that runs private jail would most likely let people expire if it makes them extra dollar.

It reminds me of the court case that was controversial when Gorsuch was confirmed involving a trucker - "TransAm Trucking v. Dept. of Labour" in particular. It's another case where company property is valued over individuals lives - the case itself hinged on the fact that the employee was free to leave the site on foot but that it was illegal for him to use the tractor half of the truck owned by the employer to reach…

in case anyone else wants to know the details of this case:

https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/477996

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

#253
Even more surprising that there’s one situation still ongoing:

> Meanwhile, at the Iranian port of Assaluyeh, 19 mostly Indian crew members of the bulk carrier Ula are on hunger strike after their vessel was abandoned by its owners in July 2019.

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

#254
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Syria does have an embassy in Cairo.

They don't care. Just to let you know how bad are we treated. As a Syrian, I should exchange 100 dollars to enter the country. Some people were stuck at the border with Lebanon when that bill was issued and a woman died waiting for someone to bring her the 100 dollars (or 200 because he also needs to go back). We pay 800 euros to get our 2 years of validity passports. A couple of weeks ago, I had to wait from 6 a.m.…

Same here my friend, they were literally whipping people for cutting the line on the Syrian embassy in Lebanon.

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

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, here’s the IMO database entry on the MV Aman. It provides much additional context. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/seafarers/seafarersbrowse.details?p_... In particular, here’s a recent update that sheds some light on why Mr. Aisha remained aboard - in short, he refused to leave unless and until he was paid the wages due to him: Govt. of Bahrain (7 March 2021) From Registration of Ships & Seamen Affairs I would like to h…

This seems like pretty important information if correct. A huge portion of the HN discussion is moot if the Mr. Aisha chose to remain. Seems like he could have continued his fight for the outstanding wages elsewhere.

I totally disagree. Based on sibling comments it seems like some people think this would have legally screwed up his claim to the lost wages, and even if not, giving up your only leverage in this situation is probably not the optimal strategy.

I can see a parallel world where he decided to get off the boat and we're reading an article about how he lost all that time and won't be able to recover wages, and some HN commenter goes "oh well he should have just stayed on the boat, he got off willingly, so all this discussion is moot".

The reality is this guy was put into a nightmare situation by a combination of his company not appearing to have planned properly (or cared enough about this outcome to prepare for it) and Egypt's ridiculous law where someone can be legally responsible for a ship they have no ownership of. Expecting him to correctly navigate international laws to determine what the action is for him to get off the ship but get paid for the time as he deserves seems somewhat ridiculous. In reality, this situation should never have happened in the first place and I place the vast majority of the blame for that on the company and Egypt.

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

#257
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fault here is ultimately with egypt. They were not letting him leave, they took his passport and not even letting him get 'deported' back to his home country. This is not from outsourcing, this is Kafkaesque bureaucracy created by Egypt itself.

Egypt definitely has fault here, but the company that owns the ship could have gotten the ship out of there if they cared about him at all. Yes, it might have been expensive, but I would expect a US based company to have rescued him within weeks of this situation starting, not years.

Given the excessive "compensation" demand that Egypt is making for the ship that blocked the canal, I'm going to assume the fault lies with Egypt.

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

#258
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Re: Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years

#259

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-…

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

#260
post #247
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says he swam ashore to buy supplies. Why can’t he simply walk away and not return to the ship. The article does not clarify that point. Anyone knows?

> the area is a restricted military zone I wouldn’t try my luck in a foreign restricted military zone.

Where do you think he is getting supplies from?
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