Orissa HC orders abandoned MT Unity crew's repatriation within three weeks

The Orissa High Court has ordered authorities to take the MT Unity crew off the vessel and send them home. The ruling treats the months-long abandonment off Paradip as a rights and welfare failure demanding urgent action.Cuttack,Oct 9, 2026 14:24 ISTThe Orissa High Court has directed the Centre and other authorities to disembark the crew of MT Unity, a foreign oil tanker abandoned by its owner off Paradip since May, and repatriate them to their home countries, preferably within three weeks. The court also asked the authorities to place a replacement crew on board the vessel.The order was passed on October 6 by Justice R K Pattanaik while hearing a writ petition filed by the tanker's master, Russian national Istyagin Evgeny Nikolaevich. The court said the seafarers had been abandoned under the Merchant Shipping Act as the owner had failed to pay their wages, provide provisions, or arrange a crew change or their return home.The court said the expenses for disembarkation, repatriation and the replacement crew could be recovered from the owner or any other party found liable. The Cameroon-flagged tanker has been anchored off Paradip port since May 11 and remains under arrest in three admiralty suits before the High Court over commercial claims against its owner. The vessel had arrived to discharge Russian crude oil.The master and 22 other seafarers have remained on board the ship. According to the Russian Consulate General in Kolkata, 20 of them are Russian nationals, two are Egyptian and one is from Kazakhstan. In his petition, the master said the crew had not been paid since May and that supplies of food, drinking water and other essentials had dwindled. He also said neither the owner nor the local agent had taken steps to address their situation. In the petition, the master argued that the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution extended to foreign seafarers aboard vessels in Indian waters. The vessel's insurer later supplied provisions and cleared the wage arrears. The writ petition was first taken up in August, when the High Court issued notices to the Centre and other parties. As an interim measure, it directed the Paradip Port Authority to urgently remove sludge from the vessel.The Ministry of External Affairs said in September that it was in regular contact with the Russian Embassy regarding the crew's welfare and repatriation. With the tanker still under arrest, the High Court has now ordered the authorities to ensure the crew is taken off the vessel and sent home within the preferred three-week timeline. - Ends