RI crew going home after abuse on ship

RI crew going home after abuse on ship

NEW ZEALAND: Six Indonesian crew members were taken off a freighter in New Zealand's port of Nelson on Wednesday after the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) said they had been mistreated, underpaid and underfed.

One of them told Radio New Zealand the crew had been given water drawn from the Panama Canal to drink while the captain's dog had mineral water.

Local ITF coordinator Kathy Whelan escorted the six Indonesians off the Korean-owned motor vessel Wisteria, which flies the Panamanian flag, and said they would be flown home on Thursday.

She said the federation, which discovered "gross mistreatment" of the crew in routine inspections as it loaded export fruit in New Zealand ports, had obtained back pay totaling US$20,000 for the crewmen who were leaving.

She said 13 other crew members, who were from Myanmar, remained on the ship and were too frightened to speak to the ITF for fear of consequences when they returned home. --DPA