Crew stuck on Hong Kong casino ship say cruise has become 'like a prison'

'I just want to get my wages and go home'

Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong, where the New Imperial Star is marooned with 46 crew members onboard (Google Street View)

Members of the crew on board a cruise ship moored in Hong Kong bay have described being stuck in "prison"-like conditions there for six months.

The 46 seafarers have told local media they are owed at least five months' pay since the authorities detained the vessel for failing an inspection, and are too poor to leave the ship.

The New Imperial Star used to ferry rich Hong Kongers into international waters where gambling is not illegal, but suffered from a police crackdown on the practice.

"I just want to get my wages and go home," one crew member told the South China Post, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"The ship is really a prison," said another.

Arising International Holdings, the registered ship owner, has reportedly promised to pay the wages but so far it, along with two other companies involved, have not rescued the mix of international workers suffering in "dire" conditions onboard.

Rick Mak Ka Yan, director of the ship's technical managing company Skywill Management Limited, reportedly hung up the phone when contacted by Quartz about the ship while the crewing management company, Sun Junhao Limited, appears to have been evicted from its office for unpaid rent.

The Burmese, Ukrainian and Chinese crew onboard, whose anxiety is heightened by being unable to communicate well, are growing unwell in the hot and dirty conditions inside the bowels of the steel ship.

"Many people complained of having stomach problems, and some people are seriously ill," said a crew member.

The International Transport Workers' Federation, a global union of transport workers, and The Mission to Seafarers, are trying to help the crew retrieve their pay.

A representative of Arising International Holdings, whose surname is Wong, is reportedly in Beijing trying to find new investors to rescue the struggling business.

Yet many are simply hoping the ship will be arrested by the Chinese authorities so that the owner is forced to pay the workers and they can return home.