16 Indian sailors who are imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea implore the authorities not to deport them to Nigeria.
According to BBC, 16 Indian sailors have been seized and arrested by Equatorial Guinea’s navy officials during the previous three months for allegedly violating marine borders.
In films that were made public, sailors said that since mid-August, they had been detained and treated like criminals without any official charges or legal procedure.
The sailors have pleaded for assistance, pleading with the Indian government not to send them to Nigeria despite the assurances given to their families that they would aid their release from the African nation’s captivity.
It was learned that the Nigerian government desired the sailors’ return to the West African nation.
The Norwegian company OSM Maritime Group’s cargo ship MT Heroic Idun was seized by Equatorial Guinea in August, and there were 26 seafarers from different countries on board.
CEO Finn Amund Norbye stated earlier this week that “the vessel and her 26 multinational crew members have now been held in Equatorial Guinea for more than 80 days.”
“The seamen have been handled like criminals for over three months now, without any official accusations or legal proceedings.
It is just awful marine injustice,” continued Norbye.
Before delivering it to Rotterdam, Holland, the ship’s crew was traveling to pick up
The ship was requested to leave Nigeria’s AKPO facility, according to Sapna Trehan, the wife of the ship’s master Tanuj Mehta, when officials stated they were unaware of their arrival.
According to Ms. Trehan’s husband, a ship pretending to be from the Nigerian navy tracked the ship as it approached Equatorial Guinea and notified the country, which led to the ship being held when it arrived.
According to documents submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the Equatorial Guinean navy detained the ship after receiving a warning from a Nigerian naval vessel and acting in accordance with a maritime code of conduct.
Because the ship had not flown the flag of Equatorial Guinea while it was in its territorial waters, the Norwegian [ship] owners also paid €2 million ($2.03 million; £1.74 million), according to Capt Sukhpal Singh, a mariner and close friend of the ship master, who spoke to BBC Hindi.
Members of the team had just been split up, according to Ms. Trehan, and her husband’s phone had been confiscated.
She stated that all of them were being watched over by navy personnel. “Fifteen of them have been taken away on the Equatorial Guinea naval ship while the rest remain aboard the MT Heroic Idun.”
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