After being stuck on ship for 18 months, Indian ship captain is back home

After being stuck on ship for 18 months, sailor’s back home
PTI | Aug 9, 2018 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/after-being-stuck-on-ship-for-...

LONDON: An Indian captain stuck aboard an Indian ship stranded at a UK port for 18 months due to a long-standing legal dispute over unpaid crew wages and port dues is set to return home, a media report said on Wednesday. Nikesh Rastogi, 43, is the captain of the offshore supply vessel Malaviya Twenty which has been held at a port in Great Yarmouth, in England, since July 2016 after its Indian owners declared bankruptcy.

Most of the original crew has since been repatriated back to India but Rastogi and three other crew members have been stuck aboard for 18 months due to a stalemate with the harbours owners. Lawyers acting for the crew made representations to the Admiralty Marshal at the high court in July and the ship has now been arrested, meaning the court can arrange to sell it and use the money for the sailors’ wages.

“It is like a weight being lifted because there was a point of no hope. There was a period where things were really bad mentally,” Rastogi was quoted as saying by the Independent newspaper. He said he hopes to fly home with his colleagues within weeks. Rastogi, from Mumbai, said he and his three crew members had received no wages since last year and had feared they would not get paid if they left the ship as it would be “considered a derelict which means anybody can take it over”.

Paul Haworth, a director at the law firm Birketts which represented the crew, said the sale process should conclude in September. Rastogi said he would continue to work at sea after the ordeal. Asked about his plans when he returned home, he said: “I think I'm going to have lots of Indian food