How in the world was a sailor stranded for 4 years on an abandoned ship just 200 meters from shore?
It all started back in 2017, when Mohammed Aisha, a Syrian sailor, joined the crew of
the MV Aman, a massive container ship owned by Tylos shipping. A promising young man,
Aisha had already been named the ship's First Mate, a promotion he would shortly come to regret.
On July 2017, the MV Aman pulled into the Egyptian port of Adabiya, and was selected for random
inspection. The Egyptian authorities who boarded the ship discovered that the ship had large
amounts of expired safety equipment, posing a risk to the sailors in the case of disaster. To make
matters worse, its classification certificates were also expired, meaning that the ship hadn't
been recently inspected for structural safety. Tylos shipping had been criminally negligent in
maintaining the ship and seeing to the safety and security of the crew, and the Egyptian authorities
immediately refused to allow the MV Aman to set sail until the various issues were corrected.
The fixes should have been relatively easy, but Tylos shipping and the Lebanese
contractors currently operating the ship had recently run into financial difficulties.
This left them without the money to see to the fixes demanded by Egyptian authorities,
which left the ship and its fate in limbo.
With the ship on the verge of being abandoned in their port,
Egyptian authorities once more boarded the vessel. This time they brought legal
paperwork that needed to be signed- but the ship's captain was already on-shore,
likely on his way home. That left Mohammed Aisha in charge, and without fully understanding what
he was doing, he signed the paperwork required by the Egyptian authorities, hopeful that it
would lead to the ship being released or at the very least, the crew getting to go home.
It would be a serious mistake on his part.
The paperwork that Mohammed had signed made him the legal custodian of the MV Aman,
and removed the responsibility for the ship from Tylos shipping or its Lebanese contractors,
placing it squarely on Mohammed's shoulders. As if things weren't quite bad enough yet,
the contractors now were unable to pay for fuel for the ship,
which meant the engines could no longer be run to provide electricity for the remaining crew.
That meant no plumbing, no lights at night, and no heat or air conditioning.
The Egyptian government allowed the rest of the crew to leave the stranded ship,
now parked 5 miles off shore and held in place by its two anchors. Mohammed however was forbidden
from leaving the massive ship, and after several months all the rest of the crew had left. It was
just him inside a ship larger than a football field, with no electricity and dwindling food.
But Mohammed couldn't have predicted just how long he'd remain trapped on that ship.
When the food supplies ran out, Mohammed relied on charities to bring him food and
help him charge his phone. That let him stay in sporadic contact with his family,
and he was even able to use reserve battery power to occasionally contact his brother,
a fellow sailor, over the radio as he sailed past the stranded ship multiple times on his
way in and out of the Suez Canal. Tragically, Mohammed would be unable to visit his mother
one final time when she passed away in 2018. He wasn't even allowed to go home for her funeral.
For Mohammed, this was the lowest point of an already grueling multi-year ordeal,
but he'd have another two years to go.
Aboard the neglected ship, Mohammed's only company was the occasional guard sent by the Egyptian
authorities and scores of rats and insects. The rats scampered throughout the rusting ship,
having free reign of the vessel now that only a single human remained on board. Mohammed's
other companions were swarms of mosquitoes and flies that drifted to the ship on the wind,
and only served to make his already bitter life even more miserable.
And yet Mohammed was not allowed to leave the abandoned vessel,
having been declared legal custodian for the ship and legally responsible for it.
Tylos shipping made a number of appeals to the Egyptian government, who refused to lift
the order condemning Mohammed to the ship until somebody took responsibility for the
vessel and removed it from its anchorage. Tylos shipping refused, and Mohammed remained trapped.
In march of 2020 Mohammed's luck changed when a massive storm severed the ship's two anchors
and set it adrift. The huge container ship drifted on the current and ended up settling
on a sand bar just off-shore, close enough for beachgoing tourists to sun themselves
while gawking at the massive rusting hulk just a few hundred meters from the breaking waves.
This proved to be a huge boon to Mohammed, who was now able to swim to shore in order to receive food
and charge his cell phone. He'd have to make the grueling swim every two or three days,
but the opportunity allowed him to be around people again, even if briefly,
and to get much needed food and water. Still though, the Egyptian government refused to
allow Mohammed to abandon the ship, and he was forced to swim back after every trip to shore.
Mohammed's extraordinary case was taken up by the International Transport Workers Federation,
who immediately began lobbying the Egyptian government and his former employers on his behalf.
Finally, after almost four full years, the Egyptian government allowed the ITWF to
transfer guardianship of the vessel to one of its own representatives,
freeing Mohammed Aisha and letting him fly home at the end of April in 2021.
The future of the MV Aman remains unsure, but cases of seafarer abandonment like Mohammed's
is actually on the rise. Though none are as severe as Mohammed's case,
dozens of other ships all around the world have been officially abandoned
by their operators and owners- in some cases leaving crews stranded behind.
The crew of the MT Iba was until February of 2021 in a very similar position- though for
different reasons. This crew refused to leave their ship after the ship's operators stopped
paying the crew's wages 34 months ago. While most of the crew left, a small band remained behind,
refusing to budge. If they left the abandoned ship they would not only be breaking maritime law,
but would also be forfeiting their only leverage over their former employer,
Alco Shipping. The crew's demands were simple- they wanted all of their unpaid wages,
and refused to budge until they were paid out.
As negotiations with Alco Shipping continued over the years, initially a sum of $150,000 was offered
to the sailors. This however was just over half of what was owed, and the sailors refused to budge.
The men lived on their ship with no power, running water, and no food of their own,
relying on maritime charities for food and clothing. Finally, 43 months after leaving home,
70% of the crew's wages were paid, and the men were able to leave their ship.
Now go check out stranded at sea and forced to eat each other
(true story), or click this other video instead.