In yet another case of seafarer abandonment 21 Indian sailors have been left stranded on board three ships in Ajman port with no pay for the past seven months according to the men on board.

The three Goa-based ships Orchid United 1 2 and 3 are registered with the flag of the Pacific island nation of Palau. Each ship has a crew of seven men on board. Abdulrehda Abdullah a Kuwaiti national residing in Kuwait owns all three ships.

Subhat Mishra the chief engineer of Orchid United 3 told Khaleej Times that the crew has gone without pay and that they have been unable to contact Abdullah.

"We've been here for almost eight months" he said. "We have not been paid a single penny."

"For the last two months the owner has not been replying to us" he added. "He hasn't been taking our Captain's calls. We are unable to come to land and are stranded on the port."

Mishra added that the only supplies the crews have received have been provided by a local shipping agent Blue Bird Marine LLC.

"We've been getting food and provisions but nothing else" he noted. "We just want our money to be paid and to be signed off. Nothing else."

Reverend Nelson Fernandez of the Mission to Seafarers - a welfare charity that serves the needs of merchant seamen worldwide - said that the organisation was aware of the case and had visited the crews twice with another plan expected in the next week.

A representative of Blue Bird Marine Salim Pro said that the company had been unable to get in touch with the owner.

"For the last three months we've been calling and calling and sending letters. But there is no reply from him" he said. "We are providing daily food water diesel and telephone cards. We are trying to help very sincerely" Salim Pro said. Blue Bird Marine manager Saj Viswanath added that he was told that Indian consular officials in Kuwait had contacted Abdullah who agreed to pay the crew and repatriate them through Blue Bird but that repeated attempts to contact him since had been unsuccessful.

Repeated attempts by Khaleej Times to contact Abdullah in Kuwait went unanswered.

The incident is the latest in a string of what is known as "seafarer abandonments" in the waters of the UAE. In late 2015 the crews of two vessels - the Happy Success and the M/V Aegean Princess - filed separate complaints alleging that they lacked sufficient food and fresh water had no way to call their loved ones regularly and were not even paid.

According to maritime experts a majority of such incidents occur because of financial difficulties faced by ship owners who may be facing bankruptcy insolvency or seizure of their vessels by creditors. In most cases a familiar pattern emerges in which the ship owners become unreachable supplies dwindle and salaries are paid late or not paid at all.

Abandonments in 2015 off UAE coastline:

> Happy Success: 12 stranded Indian sailors were living without pay and on limited medical food and water supplies for three months aboard the vessel berthed at the Ajman freezone.

> M/V Aegean Princess - 17 sailors were stuck with limited food water and no pay for 8 months aboard the vessel off the Sharjah coastline.

Bernd Debusmann Jr. Originally from Mexico City I've been in Dubai since January 2015. Before arriving in in the UAE I worked as a general news reporter in TV and print in Mexico City NYC and Washington DC. I'm interested in defence issues politics technology aviation and history. In my spare time i enjoy traveling and football - I'm a keen fan of Chelsea FC. I developed an interest in the Middle East traveling through Jordan and the West Bank. I have a BA in Political Science from Dickinson College in the USA and an MA in International Journalism from City University London.