Seamen aboard the ‘Iron Monger 3’, the ship stranded near Khor Fakkan -- continue to remain stranded but say have been promised an exit within a week.

“Khor Fakkan port officials have promised us that we would be out in a matter of days. We are hoping that this will be our last week here. A CID official too visited the vessel this weekend and has recorded the status of the vessel,” says Smigin Subramaniam, one of the stranded seamen.

However the men also say Sea Master, the agency that is managing the vessel, is sending food supplies that should last them for another month. “That will reach the vessel today,” he adds.

Just last week, the eleven men aboard the vessel were in critical condition, with food stocks running out and diesel stocks running low.

Last Monday (July 22), an inspector from the National Transport Authority (NTA) in the UAE too had conducted a survey of the vessel and submitted a critical report to the Khor Fakkan Port officials.

https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/stranded-vessel-unsafe-for-seamen-inspector-2013-07-23-1.515293

The vessel has been anchored eight nautical miles off the Khor Fakkan port near Fujairah for the past two years and is owned by a Taiwanese national and NAS Ship Management.

Meanwhile, the seamen say they have been paid for a month and the company has promised that their remaining wages would be cleared soon.

Despite deteriorating condition aboard the vessel, the eleven men including captain Qazi Iqbal Sami from Pakistan had refused to abandon the vessel without their pending wages of almost seven months cleared.

The vessel, which was scheduled to sail for China for being scrapped, is said to be in no position to sail.

“The current value of the vessel is expected to be anywhere between $70million to $90 million,” said one of the sources.