Too many seafarers are still being detained and dragged through long court cases for doing their jobs, a senior official of the International Maritime Organization said in Manila on 20 October 2026. His warning came as the master of the container ship X-Press Pearl passed more than five years unable to leave Sri Lanka.
Damien Chevallier, Director of the IMO's Maritime Safety Division, was speaking at the Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global conference. "Too many seafarers continue to face detention and lengthy legal proceedings despite acting in good faith," he said, as reported by Seatrade Maritime News. Seafarers can face criminal charges after casualties and pollution, and over drugs smuggled on board without their knowledge.
Guidelines on fair treatment
Chevallier pointed to the Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes, drawn up jointly by the IMO and the International Labour Organization (ILO). A joint ILO–IMO working group adopted them in November 2024, and the IMO Legal Committee adopted them on 28 March 2025 as resolution LEG.7(112). They give guidance to port, coastal and flag States, to seafarers' home countries, to shipowners and to seafarers. They are not legally binding, the ILO says.
Their aim is that detained seafarers are treated fairly and held no longer than necessary. "Behind every case there is a person and a family," Chevallier said, adding that the IMO keeps working with governments on individual cases. He also said that too many seafarers are now on the front line of geopolitical tension, with ships attacked and seafarers killed.
Five years and nearly 70 hearings
X-Press Pearl caught fire at the Colombo anchorage in May 2021 after a leak of dangerous cargo, and later sank off Sri Lanka. Its master, Captain Vitaly Tyutkalo, has been barred from leaving the country ever since, with his passport held by the authorities, Seatrade Maritime News reported on 20 October.
According to that report, no criminal or civil proceedings have made any finding against him in more than five years. He has attended nearly 70 court hearings. His trial started in March 2024, and by the end of October 2025 only one witness had given evidence. In March 2026 the trial was paused over "new evidence", and as of September 2026 no decision had been made on whether to allow it.
In a new video interview released by the ship's owner, X-Press Feeders, the captain said he did nothing wrong and was the last to leave the burning ship. He has missed his eldest daughter's wedding and suffered a heart attack in the first year. X-Press Feeders pays for his housing and legal costs.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on 3 October 2026 that Russian and Sri Lankan officials had agreed in April that his long detention was not justified and that the court case should be speeded up. It said he can move freely within Sri Lanka and that his family visit him regularly.
Your rights if you are detained
The IMO–ILO guidelines list what detained seafarers should be entitled to. Know them before you need them:
To be told promptly, in a language you understand, why you are held and what any charge is.
Free interpretation and translation where needed, and a lawyer of your choice, with time to talk to the lawyer in private.
To be told of your right to remain silent and not to incriminate yourself, and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Contact with the consul of your own country and of the flag State, your family, the shipowner, seafarers' unions and welfare organisations.
Food, water, clothes, accommodation and medical care at no cost to you, and continued wages, allotments and other contract payments.
Once you are no longer needed for an investigation, to rejoin the ship or be repatriated without undue delay, at no cost to you.
If you or a crewmate is held, tell the company and its P&I club straight away and ask for a lawyer before signing any statement you do not fully understand. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and your own union can also help.
Cover photo: X-Press Pearl off Colombo harbour on 20 May 2021, with yellow smoke rising from its cargo. Photo: Isuruhetti/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped).
Sources: Seatrade Maritime News: IMO highlights detention and lengthy legal proceedings against seafarers (20 Oct 2026), Seatrade Maritime News: X-Press Pearl Master stranded in Sri Lankan legal limbo for over five years (20 Oct 2026), IMO: Resolution LEG.7(112), Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes (28 Mar 2025), IMO: Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes adopted (3 Dec 2024), ILO: Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation: Maria Zakharova on Russian sailors in the Indian Ocean (3 Oct 2026).
