The owner of a Maldivian ship detained in the Indian Port City of Kochi for the last five months has told the crew they must sell the vessel or they be stranded in India “forever”.
Crew members aboard the MV Morning Star have been left stranded in the country after the ship they were towing from the Maldives – MV Sea Angel – sank in Indian waters.
Following the sinking of the vessel, the Indian Environmental Authority launched a probe into the incident and detained the MV Morning Star, local media reported.
According to the Transport Authority, the crew have also gone without pay for the last five months and are relying on a local union in India to provide them with food.
MV Morning Star’s owner, Managing Director of Mallinks Pvt Ltd Ibrahim Rasheed, told Minivan News that the crew and captain of the MV Morning Star would not be allowed to sail out of the port until the sunken vessel is salvaged, in accordance to a ruling by the Indian Judiciary.
“There is nothing I can do now. It is up to the insurance company to salvage the sunken ship, but they are saying they will not do that. I don’t have the money to do it myself, I am not the World Bank.
“I have told the captain to sell the ship as it is the only option now. With the money they can pay the crew salary and return to the Maldives. If they don’t they will be stuck in India for 3 years or five years or forever because I cannot afford to pay their return,” Rasheed said.
Despite Rasheed’s proposal, Transport Authority Chairman Abdul Rasheed Nafiz claimed that to “simply sell the ship” was not an easy procedure as there are regulations that have to be adhered to with Indian and Maldivian maritime authorities.
“This is a very sad story for the crew. I have spoken to their families and they are relying on them [the crew] to provide money for children’s books, rent and bills. However, [the crew] have not received any payment,” Nafiz told Minivan News.
“[The Transport Authority] are working with our legal team to determine what type of action can be taken against the owners of the ship. These people are blaming the insurance company, then the insurance company are blaming the owners; it goes around in a circle.
Both of the vessels owned by Mallinks Pvt Ltd are insured by Allied Insurance, according to Rasheed.
Under the insurance policy, Rasheed claimed that Allied Insurance was required to salvage the sunken vessel, and that it was their failure to do so that has kept the crew unpaid in India for so long.
“We had fully insured both ships. The insurance company gave us a wage policy and in the policy they have written, ‘within 40 days we have to sail the vessels’, which we did.
“The insurance company needs to take responsibility, but they are saying no, so I will file a case at court,” Rasheed alleged.
MV Morning Star had been towing MV Sea Angel to a port in India for it to be scrapped, however just eight miles from Kochi, the 26 metre vessel began to sink.
According the ship’s captain, Hussain Ali, the crew were becoming “more and more depressed” with the situation and are yet to receive any help from the Maldivian government.
Rasheed said he had paid the crew two out of the five months they had been in India, claiming that he did not have the money to pay the full amount.
He further claimed it had been Ali’s fault that the MV Sea Angel had sunk, and that Indian courts had declared the sinking was due to Ali acting with “negligence” and “harassment of navigation”.
“At the end of all of this, this is my loss. my ship will be lost because of the captain. It was his fault the MV Sea Angel sank,” Rasheed claimed.
“The captain has already filed a case against me with the International Transport Workers Federation,” Rasheed added.
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May India Be passionate for those poor Maldivians..
Where do bad folks go when they die
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly
Go to a lake of fire and fry
See them again 'till the Fourth of July
I knew a lady who came from Duluth
Bitten by a dog with a rabid tooth
She went to her grave just a little too soon
flew away howling on the yellow moon
First there was the MP/businessman Jabir, who showed us that he was neither right nor honourable, when he said that non payment of dues to staffers at his resort was "not his problem" and now there's this amazing specimen of humanity who lays it down the way he sees it!! There's never a dull moment with these captains of industry around!!
So this man, Rasheed, employs a crew, obligates himself to pay their wages and now that the ship is in custody in India determines that he is freed from his responsibility. And, of course, the Maldives courts will do nothing about that. Justice denied is the root cause of all the conflict this world has seen.
Where is Imran? It is time for all Maldivians to pray for these people and ask Allah to give money to the owner of this ship.
Imran. now its time to save the maldivians.
It is common and a fact that most Maldivian businessmen treat their staff like DOGS, unless they are Europeans.
Rasheed is just one of the thousands who have no business ethics, no feelings or remorse for anything. They can just sit in Male, drive fancy cars, have posh offices, smart phones, drink and screw around like rabbits.
Maldives will never get any respect in any country..not even from the muslim world! shame on us..shame shame shame
It's a good example of our "not even in Muslim world" societies. The reality of all Muslim countries is that they are ruled, by armed forces, in such a way that the happy few - the rich - are getting all benefits while the ordinary people are left behind in poverty and/or shit. All of it supported by sheikhs and mullahs who never live in the poverty which they claim is the fate of the masses, to be rewarded in a heaven you never see anything of. To be sure, the sheikhs and mullahs enjoy their good life already here.
Solution ? Revolution, power - and benefits - to the people instead.
pray to God and all wishs will come true!
BREAKING NEWS: Imran and a small band of MNDF mercenaries attempted to raid the Kochi port under the campaign "Maldivian Ships for Me", but were killed enroute by Indian coast guard ships.
The owner and the insurer can't simply run away from the responsibility. The captain and crew may be responsible for daily running of a boat, but the final responsibility lies with the owner. I feel sympathy for the crew. Why isn't Maldivian govt or the endless foreign bashing powers there doing anything when the Maldivians are in need now?
Employment of a Captain, competent or not, damage to which ever vessel and or anything else comes only after ownership of a vessel!
Management, Insurance, Salvage etc., etc., are all entirely different matters!
If the crew were ship's crew, owners have no option but to pay, and immediately unless there was agreement with the said Captain to hire a crew of his own, use the owner's vessel to tow the crippled vessel and deliver up to whatever scrap yard!
Very unprofessional and blunt to pass the buck!