Crewmen aboard coal ships near China are the human face of the trade impasse

They are the innocent victims of the trade row: dozens of increasingly desperate seamen, trapped on Australian coal ships.

Crew members, like those stuck aboard the bulk carrier MV Anastasia for several months, have taken to social media to plead their case.

“We are human beings.”

“We have human rights.”

“Please, I need to see my family, wife, my son. Just please help us.”

These are some of the voices, and some of the faces, behind the escalating trade row between China and Australia.

Hundreds of increasingly desperate seaman are trapped aboard ships carrying Australian coal.

Some set sail from Queensland aboard the MV Anastasia last July, expecting to unload at China’s Jintang Port on August 3.

A tweet by one of the seamen aboard a coal ship off the coast of China.

The Chinese government promptly refused the ship permission to unload.

It won’t allow the ship’s owner to change the crew, either.

And so the crew — 16 of them Indian, one Russian and one Filipino — have for five months been stuck in a state they describe as “mental and physical torture”, anchored but unable to make land.

It gets worse: most of the crew have been on the ship for close to 14 months, and no one can tell them when the stoush between Australia and China might end, or when their ordeal might end.

In WhatsApp video conversations on Wednesday, the captain, chief engineer and several crew told The Australian they were delirious with depression and grief, not knowing when they might be allowed to step foot on dry land.

The ship has a gym, a ping pong table and internet. Food and water is being delivered. But the seaman are desperate to get off

Igor Yakoleg, 58, of St Petersburg, has been a seaman for 17 years and has heard many tales of pirates taking over cargo ships and holding the crew hostage.

“This is the same,” he said. “We are being held hostage. I have been on this ship 13 months and I do not know when I will get off.

“It is a kind of torture.”

While he was talking, a second crew member rushed up to the phone to say: “Please, I need to see my family. My wife, my children. Help us, please.”

The bulk liner MV Anastasia is owned by the Swiss-Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company and is flying a Panama flag.

It set sail with shipment of coal from the port of Hay Point in Queensland in July 2020.

About the same time, economic and political tensions began to worsen.

An Indian bulk carrier, the MV Jag Anand with 23 sailors and a cargo of Australian coal on board, which anchored at Jintang in July, was refused permission to unload.

In all, there is believed to be $500m worth of Australian coal stuck on 70 ships off Chinese ports.

The seaman, many paid what would in Australia be regarded as a pittance, have become pawns in the game. Navigating officer aboard the MV Anastasia, Gaurav Singh, said: “The men are facing a lot of problems. To be honest we are not good.”

As seamen, they are used to being separated from family and friends for long periods, but none has ever experienced a situation like this. “We are meant to be home in May and then came COVID, and we could not come ashore at any place,” he said. “We came to Australia in July for the coal and on August 3, 2020, we arrived at China, and were denied permission to unload.

“So five months we are here, and the crew are in bad shape. Everybody is depressed.

“We are getting no response from the Indian side, or from the Chinese side. We are living in darkness.”

Mr Singh said the ship’s owner was “communicating with us, but they are helpless in the face of the Chinese. They say we cannot unload, and we cannot get off.”

He said some crew had developed skin conditions, possibly from the water they are using to bathe. “But the most thing is the mental issues,” he said. “The big issue that nobody will confirm that we can ever get off.

“I am like anyone — I have a mother, a father, my family. I want to go home. One man, his mother died, and he could not reach home.”

Crewmen Anand Fernandes, 45, from Mumbai said: “I am not feeling good at all. Actually, I signed my contract for five months and I am now completing (nearly) 14 months on board.

“I need to go home, I need to see my family, my wife, my child, my parents, old parents, and my brothers. My health is good, but I want to go home. Mentally I am not OK. We just need to get out from the ship. I have a boy child, 12 years old — for 14 months, I did not see him.”

The ship’s captain, Joseph Alvares, said the ship’s company had “been speaking with the Indian government, trying with Chinese embassy, and no movement.

“They tell us, China said, no, no, at the moment, no crew can come to relieve you.

“Of course, I want to go home. I have a family I need to see.”

Mr Yakoleg agreed, saying: I need to go home. The Chinese are absolutely not complying with any maritime rules. We have human rights but they are being ignored.”

The men are aware of the trade spat between China and Australia but Mr Singh said: “We didn’t do anything. We are human beings stuck in the middle. We are losing all hope. We are asked to take cargo from point A to point B. I can tell you, one of the crew members has tried to commit suicide.

“We know about the problem between China and Australia, and they have banned Australian coal, and that is why we are not going to offload, so that is why we are stuck here — but for how long? It has been five months — will we stay here for years?”

A woman whose brother is aboard the JAG Anand coal ship has organised a Change-org petition to bring attention to their plight. On the Divya Bashkar website, she said she started a petition eight days ago to “save our sailors from the floating prison that is the Jag Anand”.

“My brother with other Indian sailors is currently serving on JAG Anand and have been on-board for more than a year now; they are stuck on anchorage in Jintang Port, China,” she wrote.

A pair of crewmen aboard a coal ship stranded near China. Picture: Twitter

‘The organisation are not taking any steps to relieve them and this situation is deteriorating their mental as well as health condition as there are limited supply of food and medicines.

“This situation is created due to the trade issues in China and Australia, in which the crew has no part to play.

“We are very worried for their safety and wellbeing on the ship; they are facing mental as well as physical challenges every day. Sitting ideally (idle) can make any person think about worst things in this world. They roam around on the ship like ghosts.

“We request you to sign this petition so that our government takes immediate action for their safe return home and escalate this situation at every level possible. We cannot pass this human right infringement on our loved ones.”

In a video titled Save Our Sailors on the Change.org site, men can be seen holdings signs saying: “We also have family and they are waiting for us.”

Another says: “Our life matters. We have human rights.”

The fact that the vessel is sailing under a Panama flag led some respondents to argue that it wasn’t Australia’s problem, rather India’s or China’s. The coal has been sold by Australia, and no longer belongs to Australia.

The crews have reached out to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and international shipping organisations, with no luck.