Twelve Turkish sailors are in desperate need, on a ship stranded in the port at Sorel, Quebec.
The crew arrived in April to get the Panamanian-flagged, Phoenix Sun ready to be moved overseas to be taken apart. They haven’t been payed in two months and have run out of food.
Officials at the port are not sure who owns the ship as it has been sold and resold several times by a series of numbered companies.
“We’re broke”
Captain of the crew, Semih Ozkan, told CBC News that the ship feels like a “prison”. He said the hardship is spreading. “It’s very stressful” he said, “Our families depend on our wages”.
The Seafarers’ International Union of Canada, (SIU) donated money and is now supplying food to the sailors. In a news release, James Given, the union president, said “Our brother sailors from Turkey came on board this Flag of Convenience vessel to work and earn a living. To be left without food is barbaric and beyond comprehension.”
Vince Giannopoulos is an inspector with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) In an interview with CBC, he said sailors are usually reluctant to lodge complaints against shipowners, and the fact they did is proof of their desperation.
He said the ITF is working with Transport Canada to ensure the sailors get their monthly wages, estimated at between $500 and $800 Cdn, and flights back home, as soon as possible.
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