ISTANBUL: Four Indian sailors who were stranded for 10 months on an abandoned container ship off the coast of Turkiye have finally been taken off the vessel, an inspector told AFP on Monday.
The four had been trapped on board the Mongolia-flagged AZRA C, which has been moored off Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara since August 2025.
The ship’s purported owners were arrested in January in connection with a massive international drugs bust, leaving its fate and those on board in limbo.
“The hardship experienced by the crew has come to an end,” Selahattin Polat, Turkiye representative of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), told AFP.
The crew spoke of their distress last week, speaking to AFP via an intermediary.
