HYDERABAD: Driven to despair facing dangerous conditions on board a practically abandoned merchant ship, two Indian seafarers along with two Eritrean crew, abandoned their vessel on Saturday.

The seafarers were driven into taking this extreme step to save their lives after having been on the ship several months without salaries, running out of provisions and pleas to save them went in vain.

From the ship M V Tamim Aldar , which is off the UAE coast, the crew disembarked as a desparate way out of their situation to save their lives.

“We will reach the shore in a few hours,” seafarer Vikas Mishra informed TOI on Sunday afternoon. Mishra is a second engineer on the ship and has been stranded for 33 months, 28 months without salaries. Elite Way Marine Services Ltd, the shipping company, had not settled their dues and the sailors also got no help when the situation became extremely difficult to continue to stay on board.

Vikas Mishra and the other seafarers addressed a letter to Capt Abdulla Al Hayyas, director, Federal Transport Authority-Marine (UAE) and to the Indian Embassy in UAE, Abu Dhabi informing them that they had abandoned the vessel due to the ‘pathetic situation’ on board.

“We were in complete black out. The company was not paying any attention to solve the problem and vessel was not under command. The main generator was not operational and the main engine failed. It became dangerous for our life. It was not safe to continue to be on the vessel and we had to save our lives,” they said in the letter.

As there was no fuel in the ship, the blackout in the ship would make it dangerous for them to still remain aboard and would not be able to handle any emergency during the night, they said. “We are depressed and helpless,” the seafarers said in letter. They requested that they be helped at the harbor. “Please send us home safely,” they pleaded.

Vikas Mishra was also keeping everyone informed about their conditions getting worse on board with his twitter posts. On June 28, he said they had repaired and managed to start one life boat engine. “Just some important things we have to do for ship safety. Then we will abandon the ship,” he said. Mishra said the situation on board had been dangerous and they need to be rescued urgently.

He said because of the conditions on the ship, they had only one option. “We are in a blackout situation (with no power on board). We have only one option in such a condition. We have to abandon vessel to protect our life. I do believe authority will protect our rights,” he said.

It may be mentioned here that several Indian seafarers in different ships managed by Elite Way Marine Services, after suffering on sea for several months, could return after a compromise formula was worked out for their pending salary dues recently. But seafarers abandoning the ship in despair is the first instance in the present scenario in the Persian Gulf for some merchant ships and seafarers by the owners.

