The Indonesian port authorities did not allow to evacuate a crew member from a Russian vessel who suffered a stroke in the country’s waters for almost hour days for fear of COVID-19.
The 45-year-old man was found in his cabin on April 18 as the Malta-registered m/v “WL Palekh” (IMO 9674397) was some 142 miles from the coast of Indonesia on her was from Singapore. The ship master contacted the Indonesian national maritime rescue coordination center requesting urgent evacuation, but received a refusal on the ground that the Indonesian borders are closed due to the anti-COVID-19 measures, though there were no signs of infection on board the ship, Yury Sukhorikov, Chairman of the Seafarers’ Union of Russia, told SeaNews.
The master contacted Global Voyager Assistance (GVA) describing the sick man’s symptoms, and the GVA diagnosed an insult. The patient needed an urgent evacuation, but the Indonesian port of Sabang refused the vessel a permission to berth. According to Y.Sukhorukov, the Indonesian authorities were unwilling to grant the vessel a permission to enter their ports suggesting the vessel should go to back to Singapore or to Sri Lanka.
Finally, the Indonesian union of seafarers, the KPI, seemed to have reached an agreement for the port of Belavan to let the vessel berth, so the “WL Palekh” took course to Belavan at full speed. But when the vessel arrived there on April 20, it was forbidden to berth again.
The Russian Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Foreign Affairs top officials had to interfere, while the Seafarers’ Union of Russia contacted the ITF, which in its turn asked the ILO and the IMO to help solve the problem. In the meantime, the master of the ship was giving the sick man injections and drips while being repeatedly urged to leave the port. Finally, on April 21 night, a police cutter came up to the “WL Palekh” to evacuate the patient.
‘No country should use the current COVID-19 crisis to ignore its obligation to provide urgent medical help to any seafarer who needs it. The way the Indonesian authorities were avoiding helping the sick man is appalling’, Y.Sukhorukov said adding that those at fault should be held responsible.