{"id":226100,"date":"2025-01-28T12:35:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T12:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/stranded-at-sea-indian-seafarers-top-global-abandonment-list-again-in-2024\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T12:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T12:35:24","slug":"stranded-at-sea-indian-seafarers-top-global-abandonment-list-again-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/stranded-at-sea-indian-seafarers-top-global-abandonment-list-again-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranded at Sea: Indian seafarers top global abandonment list again in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stranded<\/div>\n
Indian seafarers were the most abandoned worldwide for the second consecutive year in 2024, with 899 Indian sailors left stranded on ships, part of a total of 3,133 abandoned seafarers globally, reported TOI. This marks the worst year on record for seafarer abandonment, representing an 87% increase from 2023 when 1,676 seafarers were abandoned, including 401 Indians. The next highest group to be abandoned in 2024 were Syrians.<\/p>\n

The data, compiled by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), reveals that 312 vessels were abandoned in 2024, a dramatic 136% rise from the 132 vessels abandoned in 2023. Additionally, 81% of these abandoned ships were flagged under “Flags of Convenience<\/a>” (FoC), allowing owners to avoid labor and safety regulations.<\/p>\n

“Indian seafarers are particularly vulnerable to abandonment due to high demand for jobs and greater awareness of their rights,” said Steve Trowsdale, ITF\u2019s global inspectorate coordinator told TOI. “They are more aware of abandonment and more likely to report it.”<\/p>\n

Cases like that of Tamil Nadu\u2019s Sanjay (name changed), a chief engineer stranded on a tug near Bangladesh, underscore the severity of the situation. Sanjay has been stuck on the ship since 2022 and is owed nine months’ wages. He has lost his house and much of his jewelry due to loans he couldn’t pay. <\/p>\n


“I\u2019ve been fighting for 18 months to get released. I just want my $36,000 in owed wages,” he further told TOI. The vessel, owned by a Dubai-based company and flagged from Palau, was arrested in April 2023 over unpaid debts to vendors in Bangladesh.Similarly, the TOI report noted that a Second Officer Shubham (27) from Madhya Pradesh was stranded on a tug in the Maldives for six months without pay, along with 10 other Indian crew members. The vessel, owned by a Dubai-based company and flagged under an FoC, had been transporting rocks between Thoothukudi and the Maldives. After the crew stopped working due to non-payment, they faced shortages of food, water, and provisions, with the vessel\u2019s insurance also having expired. Only after ITF’s intervention did the crew receive supplies and payment in December, just before their contracts expired.<\/p>\n

The ITF defines abandonment as a situation where seafarers are left without pay for at least two months, denied adequate provisions, or not repatriated after their contract ends, said TOI. <\/p>\n

Trowsdale also highlighted a recent case where two Indian seafarers were trafficked to an abandoned ship in South Africa, owned by an Iranian company. “One of them was jailed when their visas expired,” Trowsdale noted. Another case involved an Indian cadet trafficked to Iran, where he spent nine months without working and had to pay Rs 54,000 to retrieve his passport.<\/p>\n

ITF has submitted its findings on seafarer abandonment to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). However, Trowsdale is skeptical about the IMO’s ability to enforce meaningful changes, noting that “UN agencies have no teeth to enforce anything.”<\/p>\n

Stephen Cotton, ITF’s general secretary, emphasized the need for stronger regulation and accountability. “By reporting so many cases, seafarers are sending a clear message: they\u2019ve had enough of being treated like slaves,” Cotton said. “The solution is clear: better regulation, enforcement, and accountability from governments.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Indian seafarers were the most abandoned worldwide for the second consecutive year in 2024, with 899 Indian sailors left stranded on ships, part of a total of 3,133 abandoned seafarers globally, reported TOI. This marks the worst year on record for seafarer abandonment, representing an 87% increase from 2023 when 1,676 seafarers were abandoned, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-117636273,imgsize-62300.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[53042,53041,377,177490,1025,177489,177492,177491,3772,3691,177493,177494,29648,177495,4617,1846],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226102,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226100\/revisions\/226102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}