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How ironic that Bahrain’s General Organisation of Sea Ports is staging the first Bahrain Maritime Festival next week when seven Indonesian seaman are still left stranded within eyesight of Amwaj Islands.

Surely the workers abandoned on board the Lady Anna, as featured in last week’s GulfWeekly, ought to be treated like VIPs and invited to the party.

The aim of World Maritime Day is to pay tribute to the 1.5 million seafarers all over the globe for their unique contributions to society (Business Weekly section, last week).

What a nice touch it would be if the Bahraini authorities could open their hearts to the sailor’s plight and sorted out this embarrassing problem, which is taking place off their own shores, and arranged to send these men home as a token of goodwill?

Concerned about seafarers’ welfare,

Bahrain

I was delighted to read that the General Organisation of Sea Ports (GOP) is intending to stage the Bahrain Maritime Festival on September 20 - 24.

I feel that Shaikh Daij may have overlooked the existence of the charitable organisation  funded partially by the World Transport Workers Federation and run by the Anglican Church, namely the International Seafarers’ Society.

Here in Bahrain it is run under the banner of BISS and is ably guided by Captain Ali Haji Hassan (he is one of the friendliest people I have met here in Bahrain) as its chairman.

Until the Bahrain/Saudi causeway was opened, Bahrain, as an island nation, was fully dependent on the sea for almost every commodity – the food we ate and the cars we drove.

I was a volunteer for almost two decades at Mina Salman Port where we had an impressive facility offered by the port authorities to maintain BISS.

During the time of the Iran/Iraq War – between 1980 to 1988 – I waited on several evenings until 11pm so that seafarers visiting the port could make calls home. Remember, in those days there were no phone cards or booths – we were provided with a tally counter-type of metre to record the time/units of calls made by Batelco (this is an antique item now).

It may be unfair on my part if I do not mention the contributions from many major shipping, as well as other companies, even though I am not officially linked to BISS in any way.

A T Thomas, 

By email.

I would like to urge drivers to slow down on Sar Avenue. For some reason this busy stretch of road attracts more than its fair share of impatient and idiotic drivers. The beautiful mosque attracts a lot of worshippers on a Friday and little patience or consideration is given to people walking in the vicinity. Some motorists insist on mounting the footpaths without any thought to pedestrians.

When a driver stops in an attempt to turn into one of the many compounds, shops, schools or the American Mission Hospital, drivers revert to mounting the footpaths rather than wait for a few seconds. They really are pathetic.

Jonathan,

Saar.