Cargo crew marooned on ship for months

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Fourteen crew and officers, mostly from the Philippines, have been stranded for three months in an Argentine river on a cargo ship abandoned by its owner, surviving on charity donations of food and water.

The Philippine consulate was working to help the crew, who had not been paid, leave the ship and fly home, a coast guard official told Reuters.

The Symphony I, a Liberian-flagged vessel owned by Greek-based Harmony Navigation, sailed into Argentina's River Plate in September, planning to load soy oil, the coast guard said.

But local authorities detained the ship because of lawsuits against its owner for not paying clients and providers. The company abandoned the vessel and the crew anchored it in the huge river, a few miles from the city of La Plata.

"The shipping company left the crew to its fate. The boat is out of fuel, food and drinking water," said Manuel Romero, head of operations for the La Plata Coast Guard.

In September there were 34 crew members including their captain, but 20 crew left the ship in recent weeks.

"The ship owners went broke and abandoned us in September," Jonathan Luces, the ship's third officer, told La Nacion newspaper.

Romero said he expected the Filipinos could be taken on shore Friday, leaving one Indonesian sailor and the captain.

(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Bill Trott)