Tanker UNITY with Russian sailors arrested in an Indian port due to a commercial dispute

The UNITY tanker with Russian sailors on board was arrested in an Indian port due to a commercial dispute.

The ship periodically loses power due to a lack of spare parts for repairs.

The crew members have no information about the timing of their return to Russia.

KRASNODAR, September 16 - RIA Novosti. The tanker UNITY, seized in an Indian port and carrying Russian sailors, is not supplied with spare parts for repairs, which is why the ship periodically loses power, Larisa Kobzar, the wife of one of the crew members, told RIA Novosti.

As the interlocutor said, her husband started working on the UNITY tanker in mid-April; his contract was supposed to end in August. However, in May, a Cameroon-flagged ship was seized off the coast of India due to a commercial dispute. Since then, the tanker, carrying 21 Russians and two foreigners, has been anchored near the Paradip port. The owner of the tanker ignores the appeals of the sailors, Kobzar claims.

“I don’t know whether the ship can sail on its own now or not, because they are scattering it into spare parts. Well, plus they had to go for repairs, made repair sheets, but as a result they have absolutely no supplies for repairs,” said the agency’s interlocutor.

Kobzar added that the team continues to fulfill its duties and maintains the safety of the tanker, but due to the inability to carry out full repairs, the tanker periodically loses power, air conditioners and kitchen equipment do not work, which complicates the sailors’ everyday life in the hot tropical climate.