A bulker sailed halfway around the world for more than three months with the frozen remains of a seaman in its belly, before it finally found a country that would accept the corpse on land.

The dead crew member's body was taken ashore in South Korea on 1 July, to the great relief and appreciation by the ship’s crew and managers, who hailed the country’s “helpful approach”.

Port authorities and coastguards in more than a dozen countries previously approached by the 180,700-dwt bulker Star Europe (built 2016) had refused to allow disembarkation, citing “unfounded coronavirus reasons”, said Yannis Botonakis, legal and insurance affairs manager at Athens-based Charterwell Maritime, the ship’s manager.

That included several states in Central America, South America and the Far East, according to the company.

Some authorities claimed to have no medical facilities at hand to conduct coronavirus tests on the body. Others said they couldn’t carry out checks for the entire crew.

The Star Europe’s macabre journey began on 23 March, when the 48-year old able seaman from Indonesia collapsed during his watch on the vessel’s bridge as it was approaching Panama, presumably of heart failure.

The seafarer’s body was then kept in a freezer as the Star Europe plied the Pacific Ocean, unable to find a country willing to accept it.

“Owners even dealt with refusals to proceed to a loading port, and on another occasion proceeding to a main bunkering port for taking bunkers - even at the anchorage,” Botonakis said.

The owners insist the impasse had nothing to do with the cost of the body’s eventual repatriation to Indonesia, which they have pledged to assume.

Neither the deceased seaman nor any member of the ship’s crew ever showed any symptoms of Covid-19.

Even if the seafarer had died of the coronavirus, there would have been zero infection risk from allowing the body to be taken to land.

“There was no medical sense or humanity in port states’ refusal to accept to disembark the deceased seaman,” Botonakis said.

“We are surprised by the approach taken by the port states, IMO members and major maritime centers with high importance to maritime trade - turning their back to seafarers in this manner.”

The owners could have carried out a burial at sea — an option to which the dead seafarer’s family did not withhold approval. However, they preferred to first exhaust all efforts to secure a proper burial onshore.

The Indonesian seafarer leaves a wife and two children behind. His family wasn’t the only one to suffer from the limbo. There were also concerns that psychological strains could show among the vessel’s crew.

TradeWinds also talked to an independent source, who has knowledge of the affair and confirmed the incident.

“It’s just characteristic for the confusion and recalcitrant stance of several port states during Covid-19,” the official said.