Five Ukrainian crewmembers of a Russian cargo ship have pleaded to authorities to help them after it was discovered that the men were stranded off the coast of Istanbul for about five months when the shipping company they worked for went bankrupt.

A Turkish nonprofit organization brought the plight of the sailors to light after they noticed "help" written on a blanket hung on the hull of the ship anchored off the Zeytinburnu coast. The organization said Ukrainian crewmembers had no contact with anyone and could not travel to the shore due to laws banning them to get to the coast from the Cambodian-flagged vessel. Umur Zamanoğlu, the head of the organization, said the crew had little food aboard and had to drink rainwater and lived on fish they caught for months. Crewmembers said the Russian company did not pay them their salaries and pleaded for help from Turkish authorities to travel back home to Ukraine.

The ship's captain, Nalyvayko Valeriy said their contract with the company expired and they were not officially personnel of the company, leaving them in a legal limbo. He said they weren't paid at all and had no means to travel to Ukraine. He said they weren't able to contact their families as well due to power outages in their country. He claimed the company rejected helping them and asked for help from Turkish officials to facilitate their journey home.