Dubai-based Prime Tankers had not paid an inadequately provisioned crew on one of its vessels for two months at the time a seafarer took his own life late last month, an official at the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) told TradeWinds.
Separately, questions have arisen about whether the 4,600-dwt Sea Princess (built 1993) is under any flag state’s legal jurisdiction, and what — if any — legal protections a crew has on a flagless ship.
UK-based charity organisation Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) said the Sea Princess had previously been deregistered by the Cook Islands. It is not known to have been entered in another registry since. A recent photograph provided to TradeWinds shows it is physically still flying the Cook Islands flag off the stern.
When contacted for comment, Prime Tankers disputed the labour union's claim in general terms. The company did not immediately respond to a subsequent enquiry about the flagging.
State of abandonment
ITF Arab World and Iran network coordinator Mohamed Arrachedi told TradeWinds that the crew of the Sea Princess had been reported by the ITF to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as being in a state of abandonment under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), both because of the two months of unpaid wages, and because of a failure to provision the ship with fuel and water.
Arrachedi said the ship was finally provisioned on 7 February following ITF intervention and December wages were paid. The crew is now seeking repatriation, and the deceased crew member — an Indian seafarer identified as Bhupendra, who died on 28 January — had repeatedly asked to be repatriated before his death, according to his family.
HRAS chief executive David Hammond told TradeWinds that the Cook Islands flag provided his organisation with a deregistration certificate for the vessel as of 12 January. Despite reports that the ship was then reflagged to Malta, Hammond said Maltese authorities denied this.
The seafarer's suicide is now under investigation by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"We are not prejudging the results of the UAE police investigation, and we are taking legal advice on the general question of the legal protections for crew on a flagless vessel," Hammond said.
The Sea Princess is now at the Khor Fakkan anchorage near Fujairah, where it has been since returning from an aborted voyage to be scrapped in India.
According to previously published reports, the vessel was bound for Alang on 28 January on its final voyage when Bhupendra was reported missing. A search of the ship discovered him hanged in the boiler room.
The vessel returned to UAE waters but could not have the seafarer's remains brought ashore until Indian consular officials intervened with UAE port authorities. The 24-year-old seafarer had served some 13 months on the Sea Princess and was scheduled to muster off at Alang and travel home to his parents.
Call for probe
The death became publicly known after the father of Bhupendra was informed several days later and appealed to HRAS for an investigation.
Arrachedi told TradeWinds that he does not know the reason for Bhupendra’s death.
“But I do know that when the seafarer committed suicide, he had not been paid for December, and January was about to finish to be two months unpaid,” Arrachedi said. “And the family has said that the deceased seafarer had asked many times to be discharged.”
He said the crew did not report their wage complaint to the ITF at first.
Power blackout
“They only wanted to know why the family had not been informed properly and why his mortal remains were not being disembarked,” Arrachedi told TradeWinds. “Only then did they mention that ... they had not been paid wages for December and January, and the ship had not received drinking water or fuel, and was suffering a power blackout.”
Arrachedi and Hammond both confirmed the ship was provisioned on 7 February, following their intervention.
Prime Tankers is controlled by Captain Jugwinder Singh Brar. Reference sources list his company with a fleet of 12 small tankers, mostly asphalt carriers, plus one offshore support vessel. Market sources say the company specialises in acquiring and operating distressed assets.
A Prime Tankers official told TradeWinds the company could not respond to questions on the seafarer's death while the matter is under police investigation. But she said that the labour union report is not correct.
