‘Slave ship’ taken out of auction

An offshore supply ship detained at a UK port for more than a year for failure to pay crew members has been withdrawn from auction.

The Mumbai-registered MV Malaviya Seven was detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Aberdeen in June 2016 for non-payment of seafarers’ wages, which the RMT union claimed was an example of “modern-day slavery”. The sailors took their case to court and a sheriff ruled the vessel should be auctioned to pay the wage bill for the Indian crew.