Indian Embassy announced the return of 16 Indian crew members stranded on board the ship MV Ula for the past 14 months. All of them are homebound on a Vande Bharat Mission Flight.
The Embassy arranged flight tickets, medical checkups, and PCR tests before their departure in cooperation with the concerned authorities in Kuwait.
The ship MV ULA was detained at Shuaiba port following a legal dispute between the ship’s owner and the owner of its cargo. The 19 member crew onboard were stuck for reasons beyond their control. Sixteen of them are from India, while one was from Turkey, one from Azerbaijan, and one from Bangladesh. Earlier the crew members also went on hunger strike due to the delay in bureaucratic procedures to get an early resolution on their issue.
Indian Ambassador H E Sibi George and the embassy team regularly coordinated with the respective Kuwait authorities to resolve the complex issues involved and ensure the return of these stranded crew members to India. The Embassy continues to remain in touch with the authorities to follow up on other issues involved.
The complex issue was resolved after Minister Rana Al-Faris took charge of the Ministry of Transportation. Ambassador expressed his sincere gratitude to all the leadership of Kuwait and concerned authorities including from Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Communications; Ministry of Interior; Kuwait Port Authority and Customs authorities for their cooperation and support.