Correspondence
Email sent to two contact addresses for PT Bahtera Agung Samudra.
The email said: "My name is Ian Urbina and I’m the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalism non-profit based in Washington D.C. that publishes stories about human rights and environmental issues connected with the sea. I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation and a link we’ve discovered between abuses on board a vessel owned by the Chinese fishery company, Rongcheng Wangdao Ocean Aquatic Products, and your manning agency. In 2019, PT Bahtera Agung Samudra placed several Indonesian deckhands on a Chinese distant-water fishing ship owned by Rongcheng Wangdao, called the Zhen Fa 7. One of these deckhands, Daniel Aritonang, died in March 2021 after being dropped ashore at Montevideo, Uruguay, for urgent medical treatment. His body bore signs of physical abuse and malnutrition.
We would like to ask you a few questions:
- Do you have a record of this person, Daniel Aritonang?
- Can you explain why this man died?
- Can you explain why other deckhands say that you wouldn’t let them or him leave the ship?
- Can you verify that representatives from this company met with his family after the funeral and signed a peace agreement, provided them with two hundred million rupiah, and asked them not to discuss the details of Aritonang's death with anyone?"