The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has rescued 18 crew of a foreign vessel, MT ORYX TRADER stranded at the Lagos Anchorage and dying of hunger, the maritime workers revealed recently to newsmen.
According to MWUN, all the crew onboard are foreign nationals with the captain being a Pakistan while the Chief Officer is an Ukrainian.
The union confirmed that the ship has been abandoned at the Lagos outside bar for three months due to ongoing dispute resolution with another vessel.
“The crew reportedly ran out of water, food, medical supplies and other provisions and had sent a Save our Soul (SOS) message to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) an affiliate of MWUN,” the Special Assistant on Media to the MWUN President-General, Comrade Oniha Erazua stated.
Recall that the President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju was in 2018 elected as chairman of seafarers’ section, Africa region of ITF.
On how MWUN got information on the stranded seafarers ordeal, Comrade Oniha Erazua explained that, “The ITF which is the global federation of transport unions informed us of the situation of the crew on board the vessel MT ORYX TRADER anchored out bar due to its arrest by the authorities.
“The situation reportedly arose from a dispute between two companies. Consequently, the eighteen member crew were 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, MWUN set up an Emergency Response/Relief Committee to evaluate the situation of the stranded seafarers on board and determine how best 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, sanitizer etc which were carried by chartered boat to the crew onboard.
“All this were made possible following the approval of over One million Naira by the Comrade Adewale Adeyanju led MWUN leadership to enable the purchase of these items and ensure the survival of our fellow crew on board the MT ORYX TRADER.”
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