Efforts were under way yesterday to obtain supplies for the crew on an ageing cargoship towed into Algeciras after it ran out of fuel in the Strait of Gibraltar, writes Brian Reyes.
Sixteen Ukrainian seafarers have been without electricity on board since Friday and ran out of food on Sunday. They have now run out of water.
Their vessel is berthed on a detached breakwater and they have no way of getting ashore.
Jose Manuel Ortega, national co-ordinator for the International Transport Workers’ Federation in Spain, was in close contact with the men, who also claim they are owed wages.
Yesterday, Mr Ortega was urgently seeking the means to get aid to the ship. “This is an extreme situation,” he said. “These men are desperate.”
A spokeswoman for the Algeciras Port Authority said government inspectors were scheduled to visit the ship today to assess conditions on board.
The 1978-built Eastern Planet was found adrift about 20 miles off the Moroccan coastline last Thursday and towed into the Spanish port.
Public databases have the ship as flagged in Georgia and operated by a Syrian company, but officials in Spain believe this information is out of date.
They say the vessel is now flagged in Sierra Leone, while its current ownership remains unclear.
The vessel was carrying a cargo of cement to the port of Matadi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when it ran into trouble.