Patron saved Omsk river workers starving on an abandoned ship

The crew of the ship “Captain Belodvortsev” was rescued in Yamal: due to the bankruptcy of the company, a team of river workers from Omsk found themselves locked on the ship for two weeks without money, food or the ability to travel, the administration of Labytnanga reported .

In October, the vessel “Captain Belodvortsev” of the Omsk company “Sever” set sail with cargo to the port of Sabetta. On the way, it turned out that due to bankruptcy the company would not be able to pay for the return of the river workers home and pay them wages for four months.

Captain Viktor Ponomarev refused to leave the ship, fearing that it would sink without people. The crew found themselves without food and fuel: the ship's main engine did not work, and only half a bag of pasta was left for the six men. River workers told the Yamal-Region TV channel that they turn on the auxiliary engine for two hours to warm up and prepare food. At night, the temperature in the cabins drops to zero degrees.

I. o. Oksana Popova, managing director of Sever, said that the company would resolve the issue of towing the vessel, but would not pay for the crew’s passage to Omsk. In addition, she stated that the captain had no right to transport the cargo without her permission and payment for transportation, and then she plans to sue the owner.

“Captain Belodvortsev” was towed for the winter to the pier of Polar LLC in Labytnagi. The team, despite the conditions, remained on the ship. After the media showed attention to the crew’s problem, the Omsk group of companies “VDV-Media” decided to pay all the costs of rescuing the rivermen and help them return to Omsk.

“We could not stay away from the trouble that Omsk river workers found themselves in. The press has been writing for the second week that they were abandoned on a ship and they are starving, and yet no one is doing anything. Our team treated this whole story as their own personal problems, so they decided to help people return home. You can’t look indifferently at how someone got into trouble , ” commented Sergei Kontsedalov, general director of the VDV-Media group of companies, to the Om1 portal, part of the holding.

The river workers were allocated 90 thousand rubles for the journey - for a plane to Tyumen, a train to Omsk, as well as two thousand rubles for food. The team will fly home in a few days - after mothballing the ship for the winter.

In January, social media users saved truckers who had lived in the taiga for a week. The truckers' truck overturned, and the drivers found themselves in the middle of the forest without the opportunity to leave the car and cargo. Volunteers, having learned about the plight, collected money to evacuate the car and the necessary parts.