Indonesia has been accused of illegally holding three Indian seafarers from a beached ship under house arrest, using them as leverage to get money from the ship’s owner to cover the costs of removing the wrecked ship.
The 5,000 dwt dirty tanker MT Aashi was carrying 1,900 tonnes of asphalt from Dubai to Indonesia and got hit with bad weather on February 10. The crew inspected the vessel and noticed a hole which caused it to tilt. After receiving permission from Indonesian authorities, the crew anchored the vessel near the Nias Islands. Due to the further sinking of the vessel, the 20-strong crew left the ship on February 17 using two lifeboats and safely reached the coast. Now the ship is around 80% submerged.
was carrying 1,900 tonnes of asphalt from Dubai to Indonesia and got hit with bad weather on February 10. The crew inspected the vessel and noticed a hole which caused it to tilt. After receiving permission from Indonesian authorities, the crew anchored the vessel near the Nias Islands. Due to the further sinking of the vessel, the 20-strong crew left the ship on February 17 using two lifeboats and safely reached the coast. Now the ship is around 80% submerged.On February 24, 17 members of the crew were allowed to go home while the three remaining crewmen were asked to stay and help complete the investigation. After that, the passports of captain Sanjeev Kumar, chief engineer Sanjay Kumar Pandey, and chief officer Siyab Salam were confiscated, and all investigation documents were taken away.
Following the investigation by Indonesian authorities, local police, coast guard, and port authorities none of the three men were found guilty of any environmental damage caused by the ship’s grounding.
The Indonesian government has decided to keep the men under lock and key until the owner of the vessel, the Liberia-based Aashi Shipping, fulfils demands for paying the costs of cleanup. The address of Aashi Shipping was also used by dozens of other companies and the ship was previously owned by Aurum Ship Management FZC, an entity sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control for supporting political armed movement groups in Yemen during the 1990s. In documents provided to Splash by Salam, the chief officer, the All India Seafarers & General Union in India made attempts to ensure the release of the Aashi crewmembers even offering to pay for all expenses relating to the release and trip back to India for the three men.
“It’s been more than a year since I have seen my family”
Other emailed documents show that Aashi Shipping guaranteed in March that it would undertake “the entire clean up and salvage operation of the aground vessel.” And that it requested the “earliest repatriation of the remaining three members back to their home ports in India.”
Another document revealed that a virtual meeting regarding the issue dated June 4, 2023, was not attended by the owner or the technical manager of the vessel. Later, Aashi Shipping informed that it was not able to carry out the de-fuelling and bunker removal and left it to the P&I company to execute it. As far as the owner is concerned the dirty tanker is considered a constructive total loss.
In August the Indian embassy in Jakarta talked to the officer of the Indonesian Sea Transportation and the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the issue of the three men being held captive. They discussed the repatriation of the seafarers and delinking it from the issue of ship salvage as it is a matter of the owner and the insurer and not of the seafarers, but no advancements have been made yet.
According to information provided by Salam, the three men have been kept in a hotel on Nias Island for the past seven months under house arrest. All of this is done under the pretence of an investigation even though the last statement by the captain was recorded on March 3, 2023.
“They are seeking a claim settlement from the insurance company before they release us. It’s been more than a year since I have seen my family. It’s been mental harassment after a traumatic grounding and abandoning of the ship. Even the salary has been stopped by the ownership company four months ago,” Salam told Splash.
G’day Bojan. Interesting story but please understand that ships do not ’tilt’. Correct terminology is ‘list’ e.g. ‘the vessel had developed a heavy list to starboard’. Sorry, but it makes seafarers wince when journalists use the ’tilt’ word. Ref responsibility for wreck removal and clean up, Indonesia has ratified both the Wreck Removal Convention and the Civil Liability Convention (which covers liability for cargo oil pollution). Both Conventions entitle a right of direct legal action/suit against the shipowner’s P&I Club if the shipowner does not pay up. So who is the responsible P&I Club please and why are the Indonesian authorities not pressing P&I to settle the claims? Or did this vessel depart from Dubai without P&I cover due to a failure to pay P&I premiums? As for holding seafarers hostage, this is a regular ‘settlement encouragement’ device in Indonesia. Wrong but nothing new I’m afraid. Have the three detained crew members contacted the ITF? If not, they should do so ASAP.
I believe that Robert E. Gordon is a maritime person in the know for a vessel lists slightly, moderately, heavily if I got it right and I think the term bending is used when a vessel is nearing or at the point of no return / I’ve been a proud US Merchant Mariner for 31 years having sailed brown, blue and black / It seems to me that Singapore’s maritime record needs to be worked on with bad fuel, unnecessary canning for chewing gum, ferry safety, etc. / Holding the crew hostage is not in anyone’s best interest / We Proud Mariners go to sea for long periods of time fighting the elements, loss of pay for BS reasons and many other items, not to mention being away from the family and loved ones / While there’s a lot going on her the crew needs to be properly repatriated and the vessel’s owner, the one who makes the profits, be fully responsible for vessel removal and disposal along with the full clean up needed / If the Master and helmsman were doing their job correctly and haven’t been charged, then they and the Chiefs Mate and Engineer need to be set free, like yesterday and cut the red tape /
Dear John,
Since you say that you have been a proud US Merchant Mariner for 31 years, having sailed the brown, blue and black, it seems to me that It might do you a lot of good to simply open a world map – heck, even google maps might help – so as to differentiate Indonesia from Singapore!
Your ignorance paints the rest of us Mariners in a poor light!