The bitter choice for Indonesian sailors abandoned off Africa

Abandoned for months on their fishing boat off West Africa, Indonesian sailor Surono and his shipmates face a dilemma: return home without almost a year’s wages or stay on the docked vessel.

He is among a growing number of migrant workers abandoned by shipowners, who flout their obligations and desert crews without paying the salaries owed.

“My family cries because I can’t get any money. My children and wife need money to eat,” Surono, 47, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said from the abandoned ship in Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde.

“We want to go home, but if we go home without money, then what? We’ve been working ourselves to the bone out at sea. How can we just be abandoned like that?”

The engine technician flew from Indonesia to Namibia in March 2025 to work on board the Portuguese-flagged Novo Ruivo, a tuna longliner fishing boat.