An Indian merchant ship ‘Jag Anand’ with its 23 Indian crew members on board is stuck at China’s northern ‘Jingtank’ port since June and crew members are seeking help to return home, said a report.
According to ANI, the crew members of the ship contacted the media agency on the grounds of anonymity and gave a brief detail of their current unpleasant situation and how many members are suffering from health issues and running short of medicines with each passing day.
A crew member told ANI over the phone, “We boarded the ship in January. Currently, we are loaded with around 1.70 lakh tons of Australian coal. This ship was chartered by a private entity. We left from Australia in May and arrived at the Jingtang port in China by June 13 and for five months we are here stuck at the Chinese port with no updates.”
“We are 23 Indian crew members on board and living in a very unpleasant situation. We want to return to our homeland. Chinese port administration is not allowing us to unload our cargo here and they are not giving a reason either. We informed our company about the situation and they are trying to set up communication through diplomatic channels,” he added.
The Jag Anand merchant ship belongs to Mumbai based Great Eastern Shipping Limited and the company’s senior official has informed to Director General (DG) Shipping office to take the matter to the Chinese counterpart.