15 Filipino Sailors Stranded Since April in Georgia
A ship owned by a Greek company which carries 15 Filipino sailors has been still anchored six miles off the Tybee Island in Georgia for about four months.
The multimillion-dollar ship, Newlead Castellano, is waiting to be auctioned off as a bank foreclosed on the ship after the company didn’t pay its loan.
In a report by Inquirer, the ship will be auctioned off at a federal courthouse on August 8. While the ship is anchored in the sea, the Filipino sailors are still not allowed to come to the mainland of Georgia since they do not have the needed documents.
The ship, Newlead Castellano, has been seized by US Marshals while delivering sugar at Imperial Sugar last April 19 for the creditor to repossess the ship.
The Greek firm, Newlead, which deals with dry bulk commodities, stopped the payments on the ship as well as paying its crew, as officials said.
“We don’t know when we got paid. We don’t know what happened to ship (SIC), we don’t know what happened us (SIC),” says Ship Electrician Marcu Vasile.
After the National Maritime Services came into the picture, everything seemed better. “A lot of people like to help here,” Filipino Captain Reynaldo Alcuizar said.
He said that paychecks came in, and even local churches also made sure that the all-Catholic crew had their mass.
“We’re taken care of, the vessel, the crew, the safety of everything,” Alcuizar added. the Filipino captain added that things like this happen in their profession.
But now, the creditor is now doing actions making sure that the crew are getting paid and are being given enough food, water, and even fuel on the ship.
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