Marooned in Klang
Ship owners promise to bring back 13 seamen
Upon pressure from the Malaysian authorities, Bangladeshi company HRC Shipping yesterday promised to bring back home 13 seamen who have been in a detained ship at Port Klang for over a year due to legal tangles.
Malaysian branch manager of HRC Shipping Kazi Nurul Alam sought a week's time in this regard, said Musleh Uddin Ahmed, chief officer of the ship MV Banga Biraj, over the phone.
The 1,690-tonne ship was detained on May 4 last year following a case filed by the port authorities on charges of damaging a crane. The 13 seamen were not working in the ship when the accident happened in 2008.
General Manager of the owning company Capt Shahjahan Siraj said they are not getting anyone to replace the seamen.
The crew said they have been living in a dreadful condition as the temperature is very high at the port and air coolers in the cabins became dysfunctional.
Following a news item published in Malaysia's newspaper The Star on May 24, the Port Klang authorities and representatives of International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) held a meeting yesterday and asked HRC Shipping to send the seamen home immediately and pay off all arrears to them.
If the shipping company fails to comply with the order, arrangements would be made to sell the ship and pay off the seamen, said Musleh Uddin Ahmed quoting ITF representative Ramu Rafiq .
James Nayagam, commissioner of Malaysia's human rights commission, in an email to The Daily Star said they tried to reach an amicable solution. They will appoint lawyers for the seamen, if necessary, to pursue a case so the company is forced to release them.
Banga Biraj's Captain AKM Alamgir's wife Kamruzzahan said the company has assured them of the seamen's return many times, but nothing happened.
The seamen said amid all the complexities, neither the Bangladeshi High Commission in Malaysia nor the shipping department in Dhaka took any steps to help bring them home.
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