Nineteen crew members, including 13 Indians from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have been detained at Port Bartam in Indonesia after the Cambodian government sent a red corner notice against the crew members of Bahamas flag oil tanker named MT Strovolos. The remaining six members are from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The matter is in connection over the payment for oil extracted from Apsara oilfield in the Gulf of Thailand between their chartering company KrisEnergy (Apsara) Co Ltd and the Cambodian government. The mentioned third party company has failed to pay to the Cambodian government and has not renewed the permit to extract oil hence the crew members have been detained. It has also been reported that KrisEnergy went bankrupt and liquidation proceedings have begun.
The crew, who are the employees of Singapore-based World Tankers Management, arrived in Kris Energy Apsara Oilfield in Cambodia in November, 2020 on MT Strovolos. As their contract tenure was completed, most of the crew members were ready to leave for their country.
The World Tankers Management continues to maintain that it is a commercial dispute between charterers and the government of Cambodia. It also said the crew members have not committed any crime but have only done their job.
Meanwhile, the Cambodian government has accused the vessel owners and the crew of stealing the precious cargo, which is around 295,000 barrels of crude oil.
The Cambodian government has also written to Indonesia to extradite 19 crew members. There are fears that the crew will be considered as pirates and will be put behind the bars for life without a fair trial if they are handed over to the Cambodian government.
Talks started on September 29 between all the stakeholders in Indonesian capital of Jakarta and is expected to continue till October 1.
Besides being interrogated by the Batam marine police, the crew members have also been questioned by Interpol from Jakarta and necessary evidence has been collected.
Meanwhile, the World Tankers Management has sought the help of the ministry of external affairs to bring back the 13 crew members to India. They have also written to the Indian High Commission in Indonesia to urge the Indonesian government to not handover the seafarers to the Cambodian government as that can be irreversible.
“All crew have now returned to the vessel after the previous round of interrogations. They are being guarded 24/7 by the marine police stationed onboard. The threat of involuntary extradition from Indonesia to Cambodia remains and could happen at any time,” says a source.
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment