Five Sri Lankan shipping crew, who were stranded in Kochi for 19 months after
the owner abandoned the tug in mid-sea, were deported on Wednesday following a
court order.
The Kochi
Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, which
issued the order, has also ordered to pay US Dollar 1,12,277 to the sailors as
compensation.
The owner abandoned the Panama flagged tug Malakkas after
both engines of the vessel were damaged on August 10, 2008. There were ten
sailors onboard the tug. Though a tug which was proceeding to Kuwait responded to the distress
call from Malakkas and waited anchored to rescue them, the owner did not give
permission for rescuing the vessel.
Later the vessel was brought to KochiPort.But the owner was not ready to take over the tug. Meanwhile, five of the crew
members were provided salary and compensation through an agent of the owner and
they returned home.
But, uncertainty continued in the case of the remaining five
sailors-A W Lok Hawa, U Pandamenda, L D Dhanapala, L M Prabhatha and Y G A S
Rangasimha.
The petition under Section 145 of the Indian Merchant
Shipping Act was filed by the representatives of the International Transport
Workers Federation(ITF) in Kochi.
Compensation was paid to the sailors by auctioning the tug.
Though the registry in Panamaand the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India were informed about the
issue, there was no response from them.
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