Twenty-one Filipino sailors and a Pakistani captain have been abandoned on a cargo vessel in Maltese waters by their financially stricken mother company.
A Filipino Foreign Affairs spokesman said the MV A Ladybug had been “stranded for months” close to Malta because of “problems with wages... food provisions, fuel and water”.
The Foreign Affairs Department only became aware of the crew’s plight through international media reports in late July.
A delegation from the Filipino Embassy in Rome visited the Panama-registered vessel on Sunday to check on the condition of the sailors and deliver supplies including noodles, drinking water and medicines.
The seamen did not want to be repatriated until their salaries owed and other benefits were fully settled with their mother company, the Filipino Foreign Affairs spokesman told journalists in the Philippines yesterday.
The mother company is the Taiwan-based Today Makes Tomorrow, which sought bankruptcy protection from a US Federal court on June 21.
The Filipino government spokesman said the ship had been granted permission to enter Maltese waters recently because a damaged anchor and lack of fuel meant it was drifting, causing “concern not only for the vessel but also for the security of other passing boats”.
Yesterday the website www.marinetraffic.com showed the vessel was some nine nautical miles east of Marsascala.
The captain is in daily contact with Paul Falzon, the local representative of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
Mr Falzon confirmed the vessel entered Maltese waters several days ago after a request was made by the captain to the Maltese authorities.
The captain first made contact with the federation some two weeks ago, Mr Falzon said.
“It’s a very delicate situation. Our priority is the safety and the well-being of the crew. We are doing all we can to resolve the situation so they can return home,” he added.
Since the mother company had not fulfilled its obligations to the crew, Transport Malta had so far supplied two deliveries of fuel and drinking water, Mr Falzon said.
There is no cargo on the ship at the moment as the crew had been awaiting further orders.