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Some Cameroon seamen have decried the conditions under which they are being kept by Gabonese authorities.
In October 2019, the crew left Cameroon for Congo, but later stopped at Gabon after some crew members, about five of the eight travelling together fell ill.
Talking to MMI, Jude (not real name) says they have since been abandoned at the Gabonese port of Gentil in a ship called Sandra Tide.
The ship, he explains, is owned by a company based in USA but has a sub office in Cameroon at UIC Base.
“We have been abandoned there and for five months now, the company is telling us that they are following up, but up till now there is no news about going back home,” says Jude.
“The Marine Office controllers told us that they gave a fine to the company but as the two elephants are fighting, it is us the sailors who have become their prey. MMI we can’t continue to be here, we are suffering, help us,” he cries out.
On their arrival in Gabon, Jude says “as we arrived the Gabonese government said we came with the Ebola virus. We where transported to the hospital where the captain died and two days after the second captain who came from the Philippines also died.”
The three others who where also affected however survived, bringing the number of seamen to six, with five Cameroonians and one Ghanaian.
Following their treatment, they were all returned to the ship where they’ve been for the past months. Noting that the living conditions on the ship are not anything to write home about, Jude says they have been left to fate as Tidewater has failed to do anything about their situation.
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