A four-member crew of a tugboat have been stranded at nearby Vizhinjam port for the past five months and are on a hand-to-mouth existence as the owner allegedly abandoned it and did not pay their salaries.
The crew, including the vessel's Chief Engineer T S Sreekumar, alleged that their owner had not paid them salaries and they were barely manging with paltry sum deposited once in 9-10 days and have run out of fresh water.
"About Rs 1,500 is deposited by the owner for the four crew members at the rate of 9-10 days and when that it gets over we have to plead for more. There is no fresh water and we are consuming contaminated water from the bottom of the tank to beat the heat," Sreekumar told PTI today.
The owner had abandoned the vessel and was not responding to their pleas for early settlement of their dues, he alleged.
Adding to their woes, the owner has sent a lawyer's notice to Sreekumar alleging that he had illegally seized the tugboat for ransom under the guise of salary abusing the process of law.
The company has warned that he would be held responsible for the safety of the crew and the vessel, he said quoting from the notice received by him yesterday.
The tug 'M V Brahmekshara', with a 10 member crew, had left Tuticorin in neighbouring Tamil Nadu in October last year on a voyage to Maldives towing a barge containing load of stones.
Trouble began as the tugboat and barge ran aground near an island in Maldives following which it was detained by the authorities alleging that some coral reefs had been damaged.
After a month, the boat was allowed to set sail and it anchored at the nearest port of Vizhinjam as it was short of fresh water since December 1 last.
Of the crew, six, including the captain have left for their homes.
The boat berthed at the port is also causing hindrance to other vessels and port workers have already complained that it should be removed as early as possible.
Port officer M T Mohandas said the owner of the tug, after a lot of efforts, paid up about Rs one lakh, being part of the dues to the port.
Sreekumar said he had boarded the boat on a two-month contract which expired in November. The contract had neither been renewed nor his dues, totalling about Rs 6.5 lakh, cleared, he claimed.
"The owner is giving instructions to sign off not following procedures of sign off," he said.
