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London, August 8
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 today.
Nikesh Rastogi, 43, is the captain of the offshore supply vessel Malaviya Twenty, which has been held at a port in Great Yarmouth, in the East Anglia region of 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 harbour 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.
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”. — PTI