"Families of abandoned sailors in Umm Al Quwain plead for financial help," 15 Feb 2021

The families of abandoned sailors marooned off the Umm Al Quwain coast hope their desperate pleas will help bring an end to their 43-month ordeal at sea...

Pawan Kumar, the older brother of Vinay Kumar, 32, the ship’s second engineer, said his family was in desperate need of financial support.

They took out a loan of about $8,000 to secure Vinay’s place on board the Iba, using the money to pay agency fees...

Second engineer Riasect Ali, 52, is a senior figure on the vessel and speaks to his wife and three sons twice a day.

The eldest, Husnain, is in his third year at the International University of Kyrgyzstan’s school of medicine, in Kyrgyzstan...

[Husnain] may have to drop out of university if he fails to pay thousands of dollars he owes in outstanding tuition fees...

[Riasect Ali's wife] Roubina Kousar, was admitted to Aziz Fatimah Hospital in Faisalabad on September 28, 2020 for an urgent medical procedure and a six-day stay for ovarian cancer treatment.

The costs were paid for by a relative, as Mr Ali's salary has not been paid for more than three years.