Abandoned sailors to be paid

Five Ukrainian sailors will be paid after they were abandoned on a ship near the Shanghai coast for nearly a year, Shanghai Maritime Court said Tuesday.

The sailors were rescued from the ship MAXIMA, which was anchored at a port on Chongming Island, after filing a lawsuit against the ship's owner in July. They were left on the ship after it suffered a major accident in June 2012 and gradually ran out of electricity and water at the end of last year.

The ship, which had been owned by a Dutch company, was recently bought at auction for about 39.9 million yuan ($6.57 million) by a German company. The court said the money would be used to pay the sailors, finish the ship's repairs and cover other compensation.

Ni Zhongyue, a court press officer, said that although the money was not enough to cover all of the roughly 100 million yuan in debt, the court would ensure that the crew get their salaries, which total about 1.8 million yuan, first.

"There were 11 sailors left on the ship after the collision. Six returned home, and five remained on the ship to handle the repairs," Ni told the Global Times.

The sailors ran out of money last summer, and could not leave the ship because they did not have a visa, so they hired a lawyer to seek help from the court.

The court sent water and other necessities to the ship, as well as officials to meet with the crew.

Ni said that the sailors initially thought that the ship's owner would get them home, but could not stand the weather any more after the temperature hit 40 C over the summer.

It is not uncommon for companies that own ships to abandon their property due to high compensation or repair costs as the sea transportation industry keeps getting worse, according to the court's press release.