“I hope India doesn’t abandon us…”

I haven’t seen land for the last 21 months. I haven’t got paid for the last 18 months. Our ship now has holes on the sides and we fear that it may sink. My crew and I have been living off rice and lentils for the last two months. We ran out of food ration long ago. We cook our food on firewood since we don’t have gas cylinders too. Some people from a local sailor welfare body came aboard four days ago after we had anchored at Hamriyah near Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They handed us food and firewood.

Our boss hasn’t been returning our calls. He has all but abandoned the seven of us. Nobody in my crew has been paid their wages for the last 18 months. We haven’t loaded oil since December last year. There is no oil left in the tanker anymore. Our vessel, MV Dharma, is owned by a UAE-registered company, managed by Pakistani national Sayed Ijaz Hassan. Until December last year, our route was back and forth between Sharjah, Ajman and Dubai.

Though the port of Hamriyah wasn’t on our itinerary, we were forced to enter its waters since we had stopped receiving instructions from the company. The ship’s ramshackle condition was also a factor, so was the shortage of food. We don’t have any medicines left on board. We would have been stranded right in the middle of the sea if the port authorities hadn’t allowed us to anchor. However, being on an oil tanker, we can’t dock at the port.

I hail from Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan. I am the sole breadwinner in my family. My father has been trying to get in touch with the shipowner too. I was supposed to return home last year itself, so my father had planned my engagement ceremony on March 25. But due to my unpaid wages and not receiving my relieving documents from the company, I am being forced to stay back. The owner falsely assured my father that I would be another 15 days on the ship, so the ceremony got postponed to April 15. But, now the ring ceremony is broken.

I come from a very humble background. For people like us, Merchant Navy seemed like a good way to escape poverty. I had never thought that I would undergo such a harrowing experience aboard. I didn’t know much about my company Alco Shipping back then. After the owners treated us the way we are being treated, I came to know this company has a notorious reputation. In the past, sailors in such cases were only rescued after they spent considerable time aboard in deplorable conditions.

We have tried tweeting out SOS appeals to Sushma Swaraj and Narendra Modi. I have been positing tweets for the last three months, but nobody seems to be coming to our rescue. The local Indian mission doesn’t seem to be interested. We have tried contacting them many a time but there hasn’t been any positive response from their side either. I hope India doesn’t abandon us like my owner did…

(As told to Dhairya Maheshwari)