The Russian Maritime Police Agency has revealed details about the Eileen ship that sank in the Black Sea.

The Cameroon-flagged Eileen sank near Bulgaria on October 12 of this year. The sailors managed to escape before it went under water.

Details of the incident were shared by the Maritime Transport Workers Trade Union of of Ukraine (MTWTUU).

For example, more than 10 years ago, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) conducted a large-scale campaign “Black Sea of ​​Shame” on the problems of substandard shipping. In particular, the report mentioned more than 2,400 ships that regularly passed through the Black Sea, most of which were over 20 years old, and about 800 – over 30 years old.

“Such ships constantly violate international safety, labor and maintenance standards. One of the main tools that allows such ships to stay afloat is “flags of convenience”, thanks to which shipowners avoid taxes and reduce costs at any cost. Once registered, they often hire the cheapest labor, pay minimum wages. The flag state bears no responsibility for the well-being of the crew,” the union noted.

The Eileen, built in 1993, was sailing under the “flag of convenience” of Cameroon. As of today, Cameroon has been on the “black list” of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on port state control for several years.

The first incident occurred in 2018, when the Eileen (registered as Haksa) began to sink in the Adriatic Sea, the crew sent a distress signal – and all 13 sailors were rescued.

The damage to the hull was temporarily patched to prevent the spillage of 70 tons of fuel. Split Maritime Police Commissioner Joso Vujic noted that the incident was likely due to the “old age” of the vessel. At the same time, the ship was never “written off”.

The MTWTUU emphasizes that this is a typical scenario for substandard shipping, when old ships get a second life at the cost of the crew’s safety.

6 years later, in 2024, the shipowner left the Eileen crew without wages, at which time the debt reached $55,000. There were four Ukrainians among the sailors — the captain, an electrician and two sailors. It later turned out that the vessel did not have P&I insurance.

ITF inspector in Istanbul Selahattin Polat noted that while the team was working on this case, the captain died on board the vessel.

“After his death, we took legal measures and the vessel was detained. In the end, we managed to repatriate three crew members to Ukraine. The captain’s body was sent home. We successfully returned all the crew’s wages, and the captain’s salary was transferred to his family. After the investigation into the captain’s death was completed, the ship was released and allowed to sail again,” said the ITF inspector.

In July 2025, the crew members’ salary arrears amounted to $56,000.

The ITF inspector managed to intervene, the sailors received their money and were repatriated. In early October of this year, just two weeks before the disaster, the chief engineer and the cadet appealed for help: their salaries had not been paid for a month and a half, and the ship’s operating company had not responded.

“I contacted the company and sent several emails regarding the sailors’ complaints, but I did not receive any response. I also tried to talk to the captain, but he refused to communicate with me. At that time, the ship was in the port of Bartin, on the Turkish Black Sea coast. When I tried to resolve the problem, the ship left the port,” shared ITF inspector Selahattin Polat.

A few days later, on October 12, 2025, a distress signal was received. About 140 miles from Varna, in the open waters of the Black Sea, the ship reported uncontrolled flooding of the engine room. Bulgarian, Turkish and Romanian rescue services launched a coordinated operation. Ten crew members managed to launch life rafts and were rescued, but the ship sank.

It is also important to note that the Eileen was not covered by the ITF agreement, so seafarers may not have received compensation for unemployment caused by the loss of the ship.

“The responsibility for establishing and enforcing the relevant regulations lies with the flag state. And since the ship was registered under the flag of Cameroon, it is technically possible to file a lawsuit in a court in Turkey to claim compensation on behalf of the seafarers. Such legal proceedings are complex and take a long time. We usually reimburse the seafarers’ wages or compensation from the sale of the ship after its lawful detention. “In cases of ship abandonment, we ask the court to prohibit the ship from going to sea and then sell it to pay the sailors. But in this case — with the Eileen — there is nothing to recover,” the inspector emphasized.