Russian sailors Vikor Abusagitov and Veniamin Krivitsky were able to return to their homeland from Mozambique.
The men were actually taken hostage by an unscrupulous shipowner and were forced to live in a foreign country for almost eight months.
The Cameroon-flagged fishing vessel they were operating on, Voloras, was left without fuel in the port of Maputo for eight months.
The crew's passports were taken, so they could not leave the port.
“I’ve been going to sea for 30 years - this is the first time I’ve found myself in such a situation, even in the nineties this didn’t happen.
This is piracy at its finest.
This is the agent's business - they squeeze out ships.
We received a huge bill for service.
The ship is still in the port.
I don’t know what will happen to it next, probably the owner and the agent will still sue for it, the ship is good,” captain Veniamin Krivitsky tells RT.
I had to survive
In Maputo, the crew was stuck in March 2023 due to a property conflict between the shipowner and the agent.
“We hoped for the best, that we would be rescued quickly, but in the end it turned out to be such a delay; we also can’t just leave the ship without passports, without visas.
We are in a foreign country, we have a hopeless situation,” says Viktor Abusagitov.
In addition to Victor and Veniamin, there were two Ukrainians and a Lithuanian on the ship.
And although relations between the countries at the moment leave much to be desired, on the ship, according to the sailors, they all lived amicably: without disputes or conflicts.
“There should never be conflicts on the ship, because each crew member depends on the other.
Anything can happen, and you must always be ready to help a friend,” says Abusagitov.
“What should we share? We all had to survive together,” Krivitsky agrees with him.
The sailors, stuck in a foreign country, lived on a de-energized ship and were forced to light a fire right on the deck to cook food.
“If we had fuel, we would have air conditioning, freezers, and light.
And so - no amenities.
I would like to thank one local ship, their captain allowed him to charge gadgets.
They stored all the meat products - in the morning they went and got what they needed, and in the evening they prepared them for a meal,” recalls Viktor Abusagitov.
However, as the sailors note, if you sit for days on a ship scorching hot from the African sun, you no longer have time to eat.
“Everyone has lost a lot of weight, the captain - twenty kilograms, the first mate - fifteen kilograms.
Heat.
There is no air conditioning.
The ship will heat up during the day - it will be impossible to sleep.
You just sit, it pours off you, like in a sauna, both day and night.
In this heat you don’t even want to eat, you just drink water.
So, for anyone who needs to lose weight, this is a proven method,” smiles Victor Abusagitov.
There were also problems with drinking water.
“We sat without water for a month at all, and they gave us permission to collect technical water on a neighboring ship.
Then the embassies got involved, the port captain told the agent to provide us with water,” explains Veniamin Krivitsky.
Intervention by Russian authorities
His wife Elena Lazareva helped Victor return home from Vladivostok.
“At first there was just fear for my husband, a feeling of hopelessness that everything had been standing still for months.
And then she herself could not stand it and began her own activities to bring him back.
To do this, I could simply make sure everyone knew that our sailors were actually hostages in Africa,” says Elena.
— My brother is a journalist, he told me how best to do it.
First we wrote to the newspaper “Dalnevostochnye Vedomosti”, then more.
And Moscow became interested, they began to spread the news and ask for new videos.
It’s good that at least on the neighboring ship they were allowed to charge gadgets, the connection was constant.”
Elena Abusagitova
As a result, the news reached the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, which helped the sailors return.
As the department told RT, on behalf of the Prosecutor General of Russia, it was established that representatives of the company servicing the trawler, forcing the owner to pay the costs of its maintenance, refused to issue documents for the sailors to enter and leave Mozambique.
And their general foreign passports were handed over to the local migration service.
It was possible to return the sailors to their homeland thanks, among other things, to the joint work of representatives of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office with their Mozambican colleagues, the department notes.
“The Russian prosecutor’s office helped us a lot; if they hadn’t gotten involved, we would have sat like this.
As soon as the prosecutor's office got involved, the agent immediately began bringing us food twice a week.
Then we were all called to the migration service, the Mozambican prosecutor’s office also came there, and our agent was called.
And then they told him that we shouldn’t be in Mozambique today,” recalls Victor.
According to the sailors, this decision came as a complete surprise to the entire crew, although they had already packed their things long ago and were ready to leave at any moment.
“We immediately went to the ship, grabbed our suitcases, and immediately received visas.
Employees of the Russian embassy, together with the migration service, escorted us to the airport,” says Victor.
The journey home took longer than planned.
The sailors departed on February 20, but due to a flight delay in Johannesburg, they missed the plane from Dubai.
As a result, Veniamin Krivitsky was able to get to his native Kaliningrad only on February 22, and Viktor Abusagitov to Vladivostok - on February 23.
Viktor Abusagitov with his daughter Polina
RT
“The flight went first through Johannesburg, then Dubai.
Our problem started in Johannesburg, the flight was delayed by three and a half hours and everything fell apart.
I had to change tickets and wait, but I only got to Novosibirsk in the morning.
They were very friendly there.
And now I’m finally at home, in Vladivostok, next to my family - my wife and children,” says Victor.