Ten Neglected Indonesian Crew In China Evacuated

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Indonesian Embassy in Beijing has evacuated 10 Indonesian citizens who were employed as ship crew members but were neglected in Dalian, Liaoning province, China, the embassy said.

The embassy said in its press statement made available to ANTARA here on Sunday that it had evacuated the ten Indonesian citizens on Friday.

It said that the ten Indonesian citizens were evacuated from the Dayang 16' fishing vessel in Dalian, Liaoning province, to Beijing.

The Indonesian crew members said they had been treated inhumanely during their brief employment on 'Dayang 11' vessel since October 2011.

They came from various regions in Indonesia and were flown from Jakarta to Dalian for placement as crew members in Chinese-flagged ships.

They said that during sailing to the Pacific Ocean for 40 days they were not provided with a proper accommodation amid the cold winter weather.

Food services they were receiving were neither in line with their work contracts. They also suffered from psychological pressures and physical threat.

Therefore, they refused to work and asked to be returned to Indonesia. Instead of returning them, the shipping firm took them again to Dalian where they were held hostage. They were each obligated to pay 10,000 yuan if they were to be repatriated. The money was also for an agency fee as a compensation for the firm because they had signed work contracts for two years beginning Octopber 2011.

The Indonesian crew members were Pajar Subhan (Jakarta), Dionisius Doni (West Kalimantan), Ilham Abdullah (Makassar), Robi (Makassar), Ahmad Bahri (Jakarta), Riky Suseno (Lamongan), Arifin Sakri (Bojonegoro), Akbar (Makassar), Cecep Hasim (Jakarta) dan Patroni (Jakarta).

They are now temporarily housed at the embassy's multi-purpose hall in Beijing. They will be flown to Indonesia on Sunday (January 22, 2012) with a Garuda plane.(T007)