Trafficked Indian sailors saved from a 'dead' ship in Durban harbour after gruelling ordeal

With no job prospects in rural India, two young men decided to try their luck as sailors. Independently, they both signed up and completed seafarer courses — Dillip Kapoor* at a maritime college in Lucknow, Raj Kumar* in Noida, Delhi. 

They would meet on an abandoned ship in Durban harbour, left penniless by a crooked owner and his agents and eventually arrested and jailed for the expiry of their visas. They were victims of human trafficking. 

Their situation is a synecdoche for that of thousands of young men caught in global marine trafficking scams by corrupt agents pocketing usurious upfront payments from the poorest of the poor, and abandoning youngsters to appalling conditions and sometimes death. 

Always selected from countries with high unemployment and an over-supply of labour, they are ripe for exploitation. Desperate for any sort of work, and commercially naïve, they fall prey to unscrupulous ship owners. 

“Once the (seafarer) course is completed,” Kapoor says through an interpreter, “to obtain a 12-month contract it is necessary to register with a crewing agent. They act as agents on behalf of ship owners all around the world.”

A view aft down the towing deck, showing the state of disrepair and neglect. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

The gangway to the vessel was just a ladder, secured in place by rope. It was so dangerous that the Portnet surveyor refused to board the vessel. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

He registered with one but was told that, to secure employment, he had to pay the maritime college agent Rs380,000 (R82,000) upfront.

“I did not have those funds so I worked on my father’s farm to save the required amount. My father agreed to borrow the remaining Rs200,000 from a loan shark. It was critical that I obtain employment as soon as possible as my father was not able to repay the loan by himself.” Reneging on the load meant his father might lose his farm. 

The agent secured a 12-month contract for Kapoor, which he claimed was on an ocean-going tug undergoing repairs in Durban harbour and that would sail shortly. The salary would be US$300 a month. 

“It was a huge relief to me,” he says. “I would now be employed and able to repay the loan my father took.” With those earnings he would also be able to enrol in maritime college again and take the next step up the crewing ladder.

When he came to sign, he found the salary was in fact only US$150 a month and he was required to pay for his own food. With no alternatives, he signed and was flown to Durban with a clutch of signed “Okay to Board” letters that would allow him into the country. They would later turn out to be fraudulent.  

 His total income for the year would be less than he paid the agent, but he figured he had a foot in the door of a seafaring career. In effect, he was paying the ship owner for the opportunity to work on the vessel.

The shipping authorities in India have regulations in place to control the placement of their seafarers, but these are easily circumvented. Those records claim that Dillip was employed on a vessel that was nowhere near Durban and by a company that he had never heard of. The entries were fictitious.

Shocking conditions

When he got to the vessel, he discovered that conditions were very different to what he’d been promised. 

“The ship had arrived in Durban in January 2022 and never been back to sea since then. The main engine was not operational and there was no sign of any repair work having been done. There were only two crew members on board, but they left shortly afterwards.”

It would tun out that the vessel was completely unseaworthy and would require extensive work to put her back in working condition. 

It had no electricity for lights or refrigeration, no water pumps and therefore no water. It had no means to manoeuvre itself, and if its mooring lines broke it would drift across the harbour, uncontrolled. The gangway was an unsafe ladder. The SA Marine Safety Authority had, for these reasons, detained it. It was effectively a dead ship. 

Kapoor was joined by Raj Kumar whose story was almost identical. They were nothing more than unpaid security guards occasionally supplied with food by the ship’s agent, who they knew only as Ali. Their promised salaries never arrived. 

“I was really imprisoned on the vessel. I was also worried as my visa expired,” says Kapoor. This happened because the shipping agent should have taken the men to Durban’s Immigration Department when they arrived in South Africa and provided the necessary paperwork, but failed to do so. 

The only bedding available. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

As the accommodation had no power they lived, cooked and slept in a sheltered area adjacent to the towing deck. There was a fridge, but with no power on the vessel it was useless. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

Three months later the two young men were arrested by immigration officials and sent to Westville Prison. When they appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court in June 2024 they were represented by an attorney who had been appointed by the owner of the ship, and who advised them to plead guilty.

“I understood from her that if we did, we would be taken straight to the airport to return home,” says Kapoor. Instead he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine and sent to Umzinto Prison to serve his sentence. 

Kumar was too frightened to plead and was remanded in the awaiting trial section of Westville Prison. They were separated, each unable to speak English, confused and terrified by their ordeal.

“I have been advised,” Kapoor would write in a statement for a court case that would take place later, “that it may have been improper for their attorney to act as my attorney while she was taking instructions and being paid by the owner of the vessel, the perpetrator of the trafficking. The perpetrator had an interest in my pleading guilty and in covering up the circumstances of my trafficking.”

The vessel owner, it turned out, was Hamid Pirhayati from Iran: When Daily
Maverick contacted him to give his side of the story, he took a different view:

“They are crew and come South Africa with proper documentation. We sent
vessel conditions before joining. Both crew know everything about vessel
before joining. We don’t hide anything about vessel. Detention of vessel
regarding technical issue and not problem for vessel remain in port. I will
open case against you if you make problem for me. I give your number to our
lawyer.”

Help arrives

Fortunately for the two men, the case came to the attention of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, an international federation of trade unions that protects the interests of transport workers — particularly seafarers — worldwide. The federation appointed an attorney, Struan Mundell, to assist Kapoor and Kumar. 

“What is clear,” he said in the case he brought before the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court in Durban, “is that the documents are fraudulent… and serve to emphasise and aggravate the fraud committed by the owner and his agents in trafficking the two seafarers.

“All this could have been avoided if the attorney appointed to represent them had simply done her job properly and taken full instructions from them. Even more concerning is that she specialises in such matters, appearing in the immigration court virtually every day.”

The owner, it turned out, was Hamid Pirhayati from Iran who was  missing in action, having taken no responsibility for either the ship or its “crew”. Mundell says he has a long history with him, having arrested his two vessels on several occasions, always for non-payment of crew wages and other abusive employment practices. 

Kapoor the day he was released from prison. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

Image taken by Kumar (right) the day that Kapoor was released and joined him in the shelter. (Photo: Raj Kumar)

The two sailors before departure with Chris Viljoen (right, the chaplain of the Durban Seafarer’s Mission), and Shobha Mohangi, an interpreter. (Photo: Struan Mundell)

Kumar in hospital in India recovering. (Photo: Supplied)

Mundell negotiated with the Department of Social Development, the government agency responsible for the implementation of South Africa’s human trafficking laws. In their assessment they found that both men had been the victims of human trafficking — they were formally declared as such in letters of recognition by the department. 

The Organised Crime Unit also concluded that both seafarers were indeed victims of human trafficking, and opened a criminal case. 

Though Kapoor and Kumar had contravened the immigration laws, it was found to have been a direct result of having been trafficked, and that they should therefore never have been charged. 

While staying in a Department of Social Development shelter after release Kumar became critically ill with a stomach complaint that required admission to hospital and blood transfusions. On their return to the vessel they found it had been broken into and all the personal belongings stolen. 

Finally, on 29 November 2024 the two young men left South Africa and arrived home the following day. Kumar was admitted to hospital in India but has made a full recovery. 

Without the assistance of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, Kapoor and Kumar might still be in prison. The organisation paid all legal costs, provided them with tickets to fly home and contributed towards covering their loans. They were also assisted by the SA Marine Authority and the International Labour Organisation.

Marine slavery

The stories of these two young men could stand for thousands of others all over the world: poor, largely uneducated migrants being used as debt slaves. 

Documents are signed and before they know it workers from India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia find themselves on fishing vessels in deplorable conditions where they can be forced to work for years to pay off their debts. The United Nations describes this practice as forced labour. The Durban court case called it for what it is: human trafficking.

In a series of articles Daily Maverick published in 2024, crews docked in Cape Town told us that while longlining they had on occasion worked for 32 hours without sleep when fish were abundant. When coffee and sugar ran out they had to buy it from the captain. 

Medical supplies were insufficient: some crew brought their own medical supplies, but couldn’t anticipate all health issues. In port they were paid in rands but couldn’t send the money home because they had no entrance stamp in their passports, so banks refused to deal with them. 

Salaries vary greatly, generally starting around$500, although some crew spoke of salaries as low as$190 a month.  Salaries only improve with significant time and experience at sea. 

Fishers find it difficult to coordinate between a boat owner and recruiting agencies. These vary widely and are tough to negotiate with. Crew explained that often you had to pay to get on cargo boats, so you need to start in fishing to “prove your sea legs”.

Agencies, we were told, did not support them in the face of violations of contracts by captains, putrid food and insanely long working hours. They also failed to notify families when fishers “disappeared” at sea.

Every day out of sight on the high seas where no country holds jurisdiction, fishers are working under conditions that none would tolerate in factories or farms in the home countries of the boat owners. 

Back in India, Kapoor and Kumar are paying a heavy price for seeking work in one of the toughest industries in the world. DM

* The names of the two men have been changed to avoid victimisation in case they wish to continue to employment in the fishing industry.