Pay could come soon for Aurika crew

The crew of the abandoned Aurika may finally be able recover the pay owed to them for the past ten months as a date has been set for the ship's auction. The 8,873 dwt general cargo ship built in 1979 will go under the hammer at the end of next month, and the International Transport Workers Federation said it hoped it would fetch a price that would allow the crew to receive the money owed to them.

The Aurika arrived for repairs in Romania's Midia Shipyard in September 2008 with 22 Russian and Ukrainian crew, who had already spent four to six months on board. Two months later the owner declared that he could not pay for the work and the crew were abandoned without pay. The Romanian Seafarers' Union and the ITF kept them supplied with food, water and other necessities, and initiated legal action to recover the unpaid salaries. The ship was seized by the court of Constanta in March and 18 of the crew were repatriated by the ITF.

(Source: Maritime Global Net)