Seven Kenyan crew members in a South Korean owned fishing boat have been abandoned at port Kaohsiung in Taiwan.
The sailors have been stranded since last month, according to Seafarers Union of Kenya (SUK) on Sunday.
They used to work on FV Myyung Sun 727, formerly known as Yu Shin 505.
SUK secretary general Andrew Mwangura said the ship owner abandoned the Kenyan sailors without pay or fresh water, fuel supply and ship stores.
“They told me via cell phone that they joined the ill-fated vessel last October at the sea port of Busan, South Korea,” Mr Mwangura said.
The crew members are demanding their unpaid salaries amounting to about Sh2 million and free passage home.
Originally, the vessel had a multinational crew composed of five Koreans, seven Kenyans, three Vietnamese, two Nepalese and one Chinese.
“All other crew members have since gone home leaving behind the Kenyans,” Mwangura explained.
The abandoned sailors are Ahmed Athumani, Andrew Anich Lugose, Julius Kutoyi Munial, Rashid Amir Amran, Ali Athuman Dumbo, Michael Wanga Oduori and Hemed Zula Mwandilo.
He said they have forwarded the crew list to the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) for intervention.
Somali pirates
“The Director General KMA, Madam Nancy Karigithu and Mr Kevin Katende, the secretary International Transport Workers Federation Africa office are closely following this matter,” he said on Sunday, adding that the South Korean embassy has been informed about the abandoned Kenyans.
Last Thursday, Mwangura said, port Kaohsiung-based International Transport Workers Federation Inspector visited the seven to assist them.
The ill-fated vessel is owned by the South Korean-based Yu Shin Fishery Company Limited.
The owner of the vessel identified as Mr Song Jin Ho (Louis) is a close business associate of the owner of the Taiwanese fishing vessel Fv Tai Yuan 227 that abandoned six Kenyans and two Chinese sailors for ten months in Colombo last year.
The sailors were stranded in port Colombo from January to October after being released by Somali pirates on January 23, last year.
According to Mwangura, one of the crew members Albert Shibeka said they sailed for ten days from Somalia to Colombo port where a local ship agent of the vessel came to see them after two days with air tickets of other crew members. He then flew them back home with neither free-passage nor money.
By STANDARDMEDIA.
