Four Georgian sailors ask for help in Sukhumi port

Four Georgian sailors, who are staying for about a year aboard the Turkish cargo ship Hakki Cillioglu in the Sukhumi port, ask to help them to return home. The Abkhazian party denied information about detention of sailors.

The cargo ship Hakki Cillioglu owned by the Starlet Shipping arrived in Abkhazia on May 16, 2011, with the aim to transport sand and gravel mix for large construction projects in Sochi; however, it made no flights; while the owner of the ship takes no actions in respect of the ship and the crew.

As reported by a source from the staff of Sukhumi port, the Turkish cargo ship, which sails under the flag of Panama, was abandoned by the ship owner in May 2011 in the territorial water of Abkhazia. At the moment the ship is actually maintained by the money of the state-owned "Abkhaz Shipping Company", which bought vegetables, cereals, canned meat, flour, and provided the crew with everything necessary. The cargo ship has fuel; it can stand up to the road in the bay, or, in case of a storm, it can get out into the open sea, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports.

The crew had 14 members, mainly citizens of Turkey; some of them went home. Georgiy Kapanadze, a resident of the city of Poti, and residents of Batumi Manuchar Bolkvadze, Aziz Varshanidze and Sulkhan Tsetskhladze remain on board. Their family members assert that the sailors had never received their wages, the "Georgia Online" reports.

In its turn, the Abkhazian party has denied the recent media reports about alleged facts of detention of Georgian sailors. The crew of Hakki Cillioglu, abandoned in the sea port of Sukhumi, is not held by force, the "Apsnypress" writes with reference to the press service of the State Security Service of Abkhazia.