No food, no pay, no liberty: marooned sailors plead with shipowners to be rescued

The crew left to drift off Mozambique by firm registered in the UK are latest in a rising number to be abandoned at sea

- Katie McQue

Twelve seafarers have been stranded in a tanker off the coast of Beira in Mozambique for 10 months, with limited supplies of food, water and power, after a UK-registered shipping company refused to let them leave.

The Gas Falcon has three Pakistani and nine Indonesian seafarers on board. They have not been paid this year and are collectively owed more than $260,000 in missed salaries.

"The uncertain conditions, lack of supplies and nonpayment of salaries have affected the crew's mental condition very badly," the ship's captain, Muhammad Aslam, told The Observer. "They are unable to sleep properly and are always thinking: 'When we will get out of this forced prison?"

Cases of seafarer abandonment are rising. More than 2,280 have been stranded on 222 vessels this year, with unpaid wages totalling $13.1m - a 30% year-on-year increase, according to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which supports abandoned crews.

Many ships are registered in countries with lax enforcement and owned by shell companies. In an industry driven by cost-cutting and aggressive competition, some shipowners walk away when faced with financial trouble, leaving crews unpaid and stranded without food, water or legal recourse. The fragmented nature of maritime law can drive exploitation.

The Gas Falcon's registered owner is Gator Shipping Alfa, whose holding company is Gator Shipping Limited, registered in Torquay, Devon.