The captain of a Russian cargo vessel that has been detained in Leith for the last 13 days has complained that he and his crew are almost out of food, after a request for more supplies failed to be met.
The Alexander Tvardovskiy has been held at the port of Leith since 4 July due to non-payment of wages to the Russian sailors on board, as well as other issues.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) confirmed it had found "several deficiencies" with the Cook Islands-flagged Alexander Tvardovskiy.
The vessel was also missing valid international safety management (ISM) and ship security (ISSC) certificates. Detained vessels aren't allowed to leave port until they can prove they have fixed all the problems that led to them being barred from heading back out to sea.
The MCA say that the ship will remain in Leith "until the seafarers' wages are paid and other identified deficiencies are rectified".
In a new twist, the ship's captain Gennadi Kukvinov has approached the BBC to complain that nine days have passed with no response to his pleas for supplies.
He told them: "I sent the request for food on 8 July.
"So now we have only some remainders of food.
"No fresh fruit, some pieces of meat, some pieces of bread."
There are a wide range of deficiencies that can lead to foreign flagged ships failing inspections and being detained in the UK. These range from structural issues like broken or missing lifeboats to issues with the treatment of the crew, e.g. inadequate wages or failure to file a seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA).
The Alexander Tvardovskiy is now registered to the Cook Islands, which is blacklisted under EU rules for not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance.
The ship was formerly flagged in Russia. In 2012, it collided with dredger UKD Bluefin and another general cargo vessel, Wilson Hawk, off Immingham in North East Lincolnshire.
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