vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #146 / Special reports / Reading article...

Sailors from four Russian ships which had been held in Pusan, South Korea for over a year recently received the majority of their back wages.

The ships had all entered the port for minor repairs and were then abandoned by their owners. Some owners had been preparing to sell the vessels. The seamen had no water and had been fishing in the harbor for food and making fires on deck to cook meals.

The ship owners, the Far Eastern Fleet Base, had only a quarter of the $200,000 owed in salaries. But following a telegram from the sailors to the krai administration describing the urgent situation — one ship had been in Pusan 22 months — Vice Governor Fyodor Novikov demanded that the company find funds within a week.

Now local papers are reporting that although the sailors now have money in hand, they don’t want to go home. Russian seamen like living in Pusan, where better job opportunities let them work for up to $40 per day even without special papers.

The Topaz had pulled into the port city for repairs. After a few days, a South Korean court seized the tugboat at the request of a Liberian ship owner who claimed the Topaz’s owner owed damages for a collision near the United Arab Emirates. The Liberian company said the Far Eastern Emergency and Rescue Agency must pay $1 million for the accident with its dry cargo ship earlier this year. FEERA does not deny or confirm the collision, but it has asked the Russian Consulate to appeal for the Topaz’s release. The tug’s owners say the Liberian company should provide documents proving the Topaz was involved in the accident. However, according to South Korean law, FEERA must prove in court that it was not at fault.

The Russian Consulate is working with South Korean officials to resolve the situation.