Seafarers in the ITF/ILO database have often been left with little or no food and dirty drinking water, while wages owed to them worth $20m (£16m) went unpaid in 2024, of which the ITF has recovered $10.4m so far, it says.
For almost a year, Vihaan has become a virtual prisoner on board, he says, forced to work without pay to keep the vessel safe, amid strong currents where it is anchored off the island in the cyclone-prone bay.
These seafarers are in a catch-22: with no means of returning home, they stay on board in deteriorating conditions, hoping employers who owe them wages will pay up, as once they leave the ship, the chances of them receiving unpaid wages diminishes.
And last July, 16 seafarers found themselves abandoned in a conflict zone on board the Captain Tarek cargo ship during Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah port, in Yemen, which reportedly killed three people and wounded 87.
Thousands of seafarers are left on board their vessels in foreign waters, unpaid, with scant supplies – and no way of getting home.
