Translated material
"Cape" of bad hope
A marine refrigerator is in distress off the coast of Primorye due to shipowners
An absurd situation has developed off the coast of the Primorsky Territory. The marine refrigerator "Cape Turali" began to drift five nautical miles from the port of Preobrazhenie. 36 crew members could see the lights of the shore for almost a week, but due to the fact that the border was not open to them, they were not able to land on this shore.As Nikolai Bolshakov, a mechanic for the ship's refrigeration units, told Vremya Novostei, the fuel on board had completely run out and the ship could not continue its journey to the port of Nakhodka, where repairs were to be carried out. In addition, since November 22, crew members have been experiencing problems with providing heat, fresh water and food. The only thing left from the reserves is freeze-dried noodles, which, due to a shortage of water, have to be eaten dry.
The ship requested help, however, as stated in the coordination and rescue center of the Primorsky Territory, rescuers have the right to provide assistance only if the ship is sinking or has lost steam for reasons beyond its control. And in the case of “Cape Turali” there is only criminal carelessness on the part of the shipowner.
According to Yuri Ligai, a representative of Akiba LLC, the company that owns the Cape Turali vessel, on November 25 he received radiograms from the ship’s captain that fuel reserves were running out. According to Mr. Ligay, by that time, a ship of the enterprise’s business partners was planned to leave the port of Nakhodka to Cape Turali, which was supposed to replenish the fuel reserves in the refrigerator with almost a hundred thousand tons of diesel fuel. However, for unknown reasons, the ship has still not been able to leave the port of Nakhodka.
The shipowner does not believe that there is no food on the ship. “The fact that the crew eats freeze-dried food does not mean anything; in fact, it’s not like feeding sailors pineapples in champagne,” Mr. Ligai said. In addition, he said that the ship has a so-called emergency fuel supply. But the captain has no right to spend it, since in the event of a storm the ship will lose the ability to maneuver and will be broken on the reefs.
Despite the fact that the official border for the ship “Cape Turali” is closed, the trawler “Ognevo” was able to approach its board and refuel the ship in distress. With three tons of fuel on board, the "Cape Turali" nevertheless moved towards the port of Nakhodka. At the same time, as Primorye radio stations reported, the ship itself, which provided assistance to a floating base with a closed border, was arrested and transferred for investigation to the port of Nakhodka.
Using cell phones, the crew members of the Cape Turali were able to inform their relatives in Primorye about their plight. As Tamara Bolshakova, the mother of a refrigeration unit operator, said, she, like other relatives of the sailors from the Cape Turali, intends to protest on the streets of Vladivostok. But it’s still unclear which department building the picket will be set up at.
Meanwhile, according to available information, problems with the crew of the ship "Cape Turali" could arise due to the many months of debt of the ship-owning company to its employees, and the action with the drift of the ship could be an attempt by sailors and floating base workers to attract public attention to their problems.