New Delhi: Odisha is at the centre of a legal and diplomatic issue after an oil tanker was detained near Paradip Port. India said on Friday it is in regular contact with the Russian Embassy over the welfare and repatriation of the Russian crew on board the Unity tanker, ANI reported.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed the vessel remains stationed close to Paradip and that its arrest follows an order of the Odisha High Court.
The Cameroon-flagged Unity has been under court-ordered detention since May after a commercial dispute over alleged unpaid bunker fuel dues. The tanker arrived at Paradip to discharge Russian crude oil for Indian Oil Corporation when the High Court ordered its arrest following a claim by a bunker supplier.
Court submissions indicated more than ₹4 crore remained outstanding after part-payments. The vessel is anchored about 10 km off the Paradip coast.
Unpaid Wages, Expired Contracts
The International Labour Organisation (ILO), via its joint ILO–IMO database on abandoned seafarers, has recorded Unity as an abandonment case involving Russian seafarers, citing outstanding wages and pending repatriation.
A July 16 communication from the Russian Consulate General in Kolkata, also logged in the database, said the crew’s employment contracts had expired, substantial wage arrears were due, and the sailors had remained on board beyond their contractual period while awaiting repatriation.
According to the Consulate, the tanker likely had 23 crew members — 20 Russian nationals, one Kazakh citizen and two Egyptian citizens.
A fresh court hearing on the crew’s repatriation is scheduled for September 21.
The Consulate has urged all concerned parties to complete crew relief and repatriation without further delay and sought assistance from the Directorate General of Shipping and the Mercantile Marine Department, Kolkata, for early repatriation and payment of outstanding wages.
MEA: Action Underway For Repatriation
The ILO has issued guidelines for handling seafarer abandonment cases, calling on port States, flag States and the seafarers’ home States to address such situations and safeguard abandoned crew members’ rights and welfare. The IMO also forwarded an urgent request on July 16 to member States to take appropriate action in the Unity case, the database records.
Jaiswal said: “On the welfare of the Russian seafarers … this particular oil tanker is stationed close to Paradip Port in Odisha. We are aware of this particular incident, and we have been in regular touch with the Russian Embassy here.”
He added: “This action has been taken, as far as the detention of the tanker is concerned, because of the orders of the Honourable High Court of Odisha. As far as the repatriation of the Russian crew is concerned, we are taking due action in that regard.”