Maritime workers send palliatives to stranded foreign seafarers on Lagos waters

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By Victor Ahiuma-Young

MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, has sent food items and other materials to the 18-man foreign crew onboard MT ORYX TRADER vessel stranded for over three months at the Lagos Anchorage. The crew onboard is made up foreign nationals, with a Pakistani as its captain and an Ukrainian as chief officer.

MWUN informed that the ship has been abandoned at the Lagos outside bar for three months due to ongoing dispute resolution with another vessel.

Investigation confirmed that MWUN discovered that the seafarers ran out of food, medical supplies and other necessities and had sent a Save our Soul, SOS, message to the International Transport Workers Federation, ITF, which MWUN is affiliated to.

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Besides, the President General of MWUN, Adewale Adeyanju, is an officer of ITF after being elected chairman of seafarers’ section, Africa region in 2018.

A statement by Adeyanju through the union’s Deputy Secretary General, Education, Research and Media, Oniha Erazua, said: “The global federation of transport unions to which MWUN is affiliated informed us of the situation of the crew on board the vessel MT ORYX TRADER reportedly anchored out bar due to its arrest by the authorities.

“The situation reportedly arose from dispute between two companies. Consequently, the eighteen-member crew was abandoned and left stranded by the home company located in Greece. The crew had been on anchorage for over three months and had run out of water, medications, food, provisions etc. On the above basis, the union set up a MWUN emergency response/relief committee to evaluate the situation of the seafarers on board and determine how best for the union to respond.

“Consequently, the response team resolved to immediately solve the issue of lack of food and other necessities for the crew and set out to purchase medications, food, provisions, water, sanitiser, etc., which were carried by chartered boat to the crew onboard. To make this possible, Comrade Prince Adewale Adeyanju and his team approved over N1 million to enable the purchase of these items and ensure the survival of our fellow workers on board.

“It is important to note that all the crew members on board are foreign nationals, their captain being a Pakistan and an Ukrainian chief officer. Out of the 18 crew on board, 15 are Muslims while three are Christians.”

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