KARACHI: Seventeen Pakistani workers, including a captain, are stranded in Egypt`s Suez canal, it emerged on Monday.

A foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the report and said that the ministry was in touch with them through the Pakistani embassy in Egypt. When the embassyapproached them, the workers put up their demand to be repatriated.

A senior of ficial said that the merchant navy ship was owned by a Kuwait-based corporation which was chartered to a Dutch company for three months. The Dutch company backed off with the payment, the official added, leaving the workers stranded in the Suez canal. One of the workers, while addressing the government, among other authorityfigures, through a video made on mobile and uploaded on YouTube, said 17 workers were stranded on the ship named AKAZ with the InternationalMaritimeOrganisation number 9411408. It`d been four months since they had been stranded, he said, adding that food and other items on the ship were running out.

The Foreign Office spokesperson, Nafees Zakaria, said that in theircorrespondence with the workers through the Pakistani embassy in Egypt, they were informed that the workers wanted to be repatriated.

`We are fully aware of the ordeal of the stranded Pakistani workers.

We`ll follow through with their repatriation,` the spokesperson said.

The workers are also demanding settlement of their outstanding dues which they claim are around Rs20 million.