The fate of Mohammed Aisha was attached to the ship MV Aman on May 5, 2017.
That year the Egyptian Justice appointed him legal guardian of this boat that had been adrift .
That meant not being able to leave the freighter other than to go to look for water or food on the shore.
Four years after living completely alone there, the authorities have decided to release him from responsibility and allow him to return to his country, Syria.
His text message, sent from the plane on the Cairo airport runway, was brief.
“I’m relieved. Joy. ”
And then a voice message came.
“ How do I feel? As if I finally got out of jail. At last I will be reunited with my family. I’ll see you again. ”
That plane seat marks the end of a terrible experience that has taken a toll on his physical and mental health.
And it was condemned to live without electricity, without sanitation without any company.
His nightmare began in July of 1200, when the MV Aman was detained in the Egyptian port of Adabiya.
The cargo ship was detained because it had expired safety equipment and classification certificates.
It should have been a fairly easy problem to solve, but the ship’s Lebanese contractors did not pay for the fuel and the owners of the MV Aman, in Bahrain, began to experience financial difficulties.
C With the Egyptian captain of the ship ashore, a local court declared Mohammed, the ship’s chief officer, the legal guardian of MV Aman.
Mohammed, who was born in the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus , says that did not explain what that command meant.
He only found out months later, when the other members of the ship’s crew began to leave.
For four years, Mohammed watched life and death pass by.
He watched ships enter and exit the nearby Suez Canal.
During the recent blockade of this maritime route caused by the gigantic ship Ever Given , counted dozens of ships waiting for the traffic jam to be relieved.
Even v io pass the ship his brother works on more than once . They spoke on the phone, but were too far away even to greet each other.
In August of 2018, she learned that her mother, the teacher responsible for her excellent English, had passed away. That was the worst moment of all, says Mohammed.
“I seriously considered killing myself,” he told me.
It was August 2018.
Except for the occasional visit from a guard, Mohammed was alone and trapped on a ship without diesel and consequently without electricity.
He was legally obliged to stay on board and did not receive any salary.
He was demoralized and felt increasingly bad.
Today he says that the ship was like a grave at night.
“You can’t see anything. You can’t hear anything. It’s like you’re in a coffin. ”
A miracle
In March 2019, a storm moved al Aman from its anchorage.
The ship deviated five miles (8 km) and finally ran aground a few hundred meters from the coast.
It was scary at the time, but Mohammed thought it was an act of God.
Now he could swim to shore every few days , buy food and recharge your phone.
As amazing as Mohammed’s story is, his experience is not unique.
In fact, the abandonment of sailors is on the rise.
Currently there 250 active cases of abandonment of ships and sailors around the world according to the International Labor Organization.
The owners of Aman, Tylos Shipping and Marine Services, told the BBC that they had tried to help Mohammed but that their hands were tied .
“I cannot force a judge to withdraw the order,” a representative told us.
“And even though we’ve tried I can’t find a single person on this planet to replace him.”
Mohammed, they said, should never have signed the order.
Mohamed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers Federation, who took up the Mohammed case in December, said this should be a time for everyone in the shipping industry to reflect.
“The case of Mohammed t It has to serve to open a serious debate to prevent these abuses ”, he told me.
The debate, he explained, had to involve shipowners , the port and maritime authorities and the flag states (the flag indicating in which country the ship is registered).
“This drama and suffering of Mohammed Aisha could have avoided if the owners and the parties involved had assumed their responsibilities and organized their repatriation earlier. ”
For his part, Mohammed said that he felt trapped in a situation that he he hadn’t created, cornered by Egyptian law and ignored by the ship’s owners .
He said months went by without communication, leaving him disappointed and isolated .
All this would make anyone think twice about the possibility of going back to work on a boat.
But it’s decided .
He says he’s good at his job and wants nothing more than to pick up where he left off.
Of course, that will be after pass a time with his family.
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