Ukrainian seamen are being held in Mozambique as financial hostages

Two Ukrainian seamen are detained in the port of Maputo in Mozambique due to a conflict between the ship owner and his local client.

Two Ukrainians, a Lithuanian and two Russians have been stuck on the Cameroon-flagged Volopas fishing boat for eight months, Reuters reports.

The sailors were hostages of the financial and property conflict between the shipowner and the local agency company.

Diplomatic efforts to repatriate the sailors have so far been unsuccessful.

The Maritime Telegraph shared a video of the sailors asking for help. They cannot leave the ship because the port officials have taken away their passports. According to information, the men eat once a day, drink technical water and build a fire right on the deck.

Only a legal agent can  return the documents to the sailors, for whose services there is no money. The ship’s crew appealed to the embassies of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and Lithuania, but this seemed to have yielded no results.

At the same time, the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko said that the Embassy of Ukraine in South Africa is dealing with the issue, consular assistance is provided to the sailors, and they are provided with food and basic necessities.