A UK charity has called for accuracy in abandoned seafarer cases after a flag state misreported a union official's update about four Syrian seafarers stuck on a cargoship in Romania.

The crew members are owed $175,000 in back pay for their work on the 3,100-dwt Panama-flagged Ali Bey (built 1993), which has been docked in Constanta since November 2020.

Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) was sent testimony from master Abdullah Dahha that he and his three colleagues had been suffering from a lack of money and proper food and water, as well as a periodic power supply.