KARACHI: Nine of the remaining Pakistani sailors, who had been stranded on the Suez Canal, onboard a Kuwaiti cargo ship returned home on Friday.
The sailors who arrived at Jinnah International Airport in the early hours of the morning, extended their thanks to the Pakistani Embassy for helping them in their repatriation efforts.
The sailors however, informed media that the Sindh government had not provided them with any support, with them having reached home after a long, oftentimes lonely, struggle.
The ship’s captain was not able to return with the crew though, as he had been admitted to a hospital with his lengthy stay aboard the ship having resulted in his health deteriorating. He is expected to reach Pakistan in next four to five days, confirmed the chief engineer, Muhammad Khaliq.
A total of 17 Pakistani sailors were stranded onboard the cargo ship, MV AKKAZ, which had been anchored on the Suez Canal after Egyptian authorities confiscated the vessel for non-payment of dues.
The ship, owned by a Kuwaiti company and chartered by a Dutch firm, had set sail from Abu Dhabi on August 11, 2016. It had been bound for Port Said and Alexandria in Egypt from where it was supposed to sail onwards to the Netherlands.
However, upon reaching Egyptian waters in October, the vessel had not been allowed entry due to a mechanical failure and the expiry of its technical license. The stranded sailors, according to the vessel’s Chief Officer Jameel Jangian, were owed around Rs 20 million in dues by the shipping corporation.
