Unscrupulous! 17 Chinese crew members were deceived! They boarded a ship with the new coronavirus and could not go home

Recently, 17 Chinese crew members happily came to South Korea to pick up a ship and make money. When they got on board, they found that there was no one on board . After careful inquiry, they learned that several people on the ship had been infected with the new coronavirus, and one of them was even admitted to the ICU.

The crew who received the ship were dumbfounded. The management company had not told them before. Naturally, they did not enter the living area, but slept for two nights and three days at the bow and had two meals.

Let's first take a look at what happened to this ship:

The ship flies the flag of the Marshall Islands, was built in 2015, and has a capacity of 78,000 tons of bulk cargo. The ship had been anchored for 20 days before they came aboard. It was returning from India and had refueled in Singapore.

The crew members felt very angry and felt deceived. They were afraid that the new coronavirus was everywhere and they didn't know where was safe. They came here to make money, not to lose their lives.

They felt helpless again because they contacted the management company, and the management company's attitude was that they could not replace people, they could carry out disinfection and replace daily necessities, but it was impossible for them to go home.

The shipowner management company told lies one after another, because the crew members who took over found that leftovers were still in the living area, and the infected crew members had just left, so where did the disinfection come from? The management company flatly denied the deception before boarding the ship.

According to the ITF, around 200,000 international seafarers are still forced to work on vessels outside of their contracts due to ongoing government border and travel restrictions.

Meanwhile, with tens of thousands of seafarers on board ships throughout the year, the maritime industry fears the number of seafarers trapped on board could double in a matter of weeks due to the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak in India and other key seafarer supplying countries.

David Heindel, Chair of the Seafarers Section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), warned: “We are on the precipice of a third crew change crisis. Now is the time for government generosity and action. We need to see seafarers’ home countries prioritise them for vaccination. We need port States to offer vaccines to seafarers travelling to their shores and we need flag States to vaccinate all seafarers on ships flying their flag.”

What’s more, some governments are now reintroducing border restrictions after earlier granting exemptions to international seafarers to carry out crew changes, David Heinde said.

“We are deeply concerned by the Norwegian government’s announcement that it will reintroduce quarantine for seafarers, regardless of their Covid-19 or vaccination status. Rather than rolling back more restrictions, it is time for port state authorities to introduce new and expanded green lanes for international seafarers, and it is time they welcome seafarers and use their ports as vaccination hubs for seafarers.”

“Protecting the global shipping industry requires global cooperation, and developed countries with strong vaccine programs should now change their thinking and provide resources to help vaccinate these key workers.”