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ITF appeal for innocent officers to go home
11 July 2008
The ITF has appealed to the South Korean authorities to allow two officers found innocent of causing an oil spillage to return home.
Captain Jasprit Chalwa and Chief Officer Syam Chetan were exonerated of the spillage from their anchored ship,
Hebei Spirit, which was struck by a crane barge last December. But local prosecutors have appealed against this judgment. Two tug captains were jailed and the crane operator fined in the same trial, which found the Hebei Spirit men innocent.
ITF Maritime Coordinator Steve Cotton said: “Captain Chalwa and Chief Officer Chetan have asked to be able to go home pending what might be a wait of many, many months before any possible further hearing, which they, with the owners V Ships’ full support, have pledged to attend. We can see no possible reason why they should not be allowed to do so.”
He said that such continuing detention "has the sole effect of creating unnecessary psychological and physical discomfort which ultimately can damage the detained seafarers’ health.
“The ITF, supported by its affiliates worldwide, is committed to assist every seafarer who is unfairly criminalised and to bring his or her case to the attention of the international shipping regulatory bodies." The ITF is calling for permission for these men to return to their families "as a matter of urgency.“
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