A long-suffering sailor stranded at sea for more than a year said he has been left "mentally and physically broken" by his ordeal, as he prepares to return to dry land for good.
The misery endured by chief engineer Guru Ganesan, a member of the embattled crew of the MV Azraqmoiah, anchored off the Sharjah coast due to a pay dispute since February, 2018, is far from unique.
He is one of 31 sailors on seven abandoned vessels trapped in the waters of the UAE due to salary disputes, some for up to two years.
The mental turmoil of living in blackout conditions on a tanker miles from shore has left its mark on the seafarer, from Tamil Nadu in Southern India.
After months of negotiations, he has finally been allowed to come ashore and return home after accepting half of the money he is owed after not being paid for close to 18 months.
The 39-year-old could not face another scorching summer in the Arabian Gulf, waiting to be rescued.
“We are all very tired, and mentally drained with what we have been through,” he said.
“When the ship was in blackout because we had no power, it was very difficult.
“I know I will have to get medical help as soon as I go home. I am mentally and physically broken.”
A life at sea has prevented him from finding a wife and starting family. That at least, could change as he prepares to head home from Dubai in a repatriation deal that has been months in the making.
Psychologists predict the men face a difficult period of adjustment.
The sea is all I have known for almost 20 years, now I must do something else.
Depression and anxiety dominated his life in recent weeks, as the crew eagerly awaited news of a legal case to have their ship arrested, allowing them to leave their posts.
The MV Azraqmoiah was one of seven vessels operated by Elite Marine Way Services to hit financial problems, with the crew owed months of salary.
Without travel documents, they were unable to come ashore.
Some remain at sea, determined to hold out for 100 per cent of their unpaid wages, others have conceded defeat and are now on one of the arrested vessels at Dubai Maritime City, waiting to be repatriated.
Mr Ganesan is facing up to the daunting challenge of rebuilding his life.
With both parents dead, he is unsure of the life he will go back to, and what support he will have after his time at sea.
“My family is not rich,” he said.
“We have had many problems since a cyclone hit our village.
“The sea is all I have known for almost 20 years, now I must do something else. I cannot face going back out there, it was torture.”
Mr Ganesan is owed $57,600 (Dh212,000) in total for the last 17 months work, but has accepted payment of $34,560 (Dh127,000) to sign off from his company.
Dipak Mishra, 49, is captain of the cargo ship Tamim Aldar and has also signed off accepting $48,000 (Dh176,000) pay for the past 24 months work. In total, he is owed almost $100,000 (Dh367,000) in unpaid wages.
“We have all been ready to go home for months, the men were desperate to leave,” he said.
“Still we do not know how long it will take to get home.
“It is not in our hands, that has been the most frustrating aspect of this.
“It has been difficult for us to survive this experience.”
Mr Mishra, who is from near Calcutta, has been paid some his salary in cash, but he is unable to spend it as he remains onboard the vessel until he has a new passport.
Since being on board, his wife has left him and his seven-year-old daughter has not seen him for more than two years.
“I could not send any money to my wife, so the relationship ended,” he said.
“I have been in the merchant navy since 2002, but never experienced anything like this before.
“Usually we are at sea for 8 months, so 24 months is a long time.
“Without help from the embassy for medication I needed for my diabetes and blood pressure, I don't know what would have happened.
“I cannot sail again. I must think of doing something else, but I don’t know what, maybe farming.
“This has totally changed my life.”
Shipping regulators have taken steps to end the abandonment of merchant navy sailors in the UAE.
Operators now require compulsory insurance to cover crew salaries for up to four months, as well as repatriation costs.
“This whole experience has been like being locked in a jail, but we have not done anything wrong or committed any crime,” he said.
“The men tried to help each other, but we were all isolated and forgotten.
“I won’t know the full effect of this until I have seen a doctor. I am sure my life will never be the same.”
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2)
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The years Ramadan fell in May
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
WITHIN%20SAND
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Moe%20Alatawi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Ra%E2%80%99ed%20Alshammari%2C%20Adwa%20Fahd%2C%20Muhand%20Alsaleh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
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THREE
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