"Indian sailors stranded due to China-Australia dispute allowed to leave Chinese coast" 19 January 2021

A group of Indian sailors stranded off the Chinese coast for seven months, caught up in a trade dispute between China and Australia, have been allowed to leave for Japan, union officials said on Monday.

The sailors had been stuck outside the Chinese port of Jingtang since mid-June due to a Chinese trade embargo on Australian coal. The embargo kept them from reaching China, but maritime law prevented them from taking off with a cargo that had been bought by Chinese merchants.

“Our seafarers who were doing their job were caught in a political and trade war between Australia and China,” Abdulgani Serang, general secretary of the National Union of Seafarers of India, told dpa.

The 23-member crew of the Indian vessel Jag Anand arrived in Tokyo late on Monday, Serang said. Shiptracking website MarineTraffic also showed the ship docking in Tokyo. From there, the sailors will fly to India after clearing pandemic procedures.

The vessel, along with its cargo of Australian coal, was granted passage to Japan last week after the intervention of the Indian government and shipowner Great Eastern Shipping.

Around 55 further ships, along with scores of other sailors, many of them Indians, are still stuck in Chinese waters, Serang said. [...]