Beginning on April 6, 2024, the Run Zeng 03, a Russian-flagged fishing vessel operating in Indonesian waters, subjected its predominantly Indonesian crew to a series of labor abuses that would culminate in six men leaping into the open sea to escape. The vessel, managed by Gunawan Winarso, had recruited Indonesian workers with promises of a salary and holiday bonus of IDR 2 million, but paid them only a travel allowance of Rp 500,000. Crew members worked shifts exceeding 18 hours, ate rotten chicken, and drank water dripping from an air conditioner, all while the captain forbade them from eating any of the fish they hauled. When frozen fish struck one crew member in the head, the captain handed him coffee to stop the bleeding instead of medical treatment and ordered him back to work.

After a strike on April 8 failed to produce promised wages or a return voyage home, the captain contacted the vessel's manager, who promised to send money and dispatch another ship to bring the crew home. Three days passed with no ship arriving. The captain asked the crew to keep working until it arrived. Then the Run Zeng 03 picked up speed and turned toward open water. "The Run Zeng turned left to go to the middle of the sea again," Sanusi said. "So my friend said, 'Let's go, if you jump, I'll jump.'" Sanusi leapt overboard, and five crewmembers followed one by one. Only one had time to put on a life jacket; three others clung to each other in the water. One crewmember, Juanaaby, drifted away from the group. After several hours adrift, a passing purse seine fishing vessel rescued the survivors. Juanaaby’s body was recovered headless three days later, under circumstances that Sanusi and local fishermen found suspicious.

Two months earlier, another crewmember, Erwan Rudiyanto (not his real name), experienced similar conditions, working for almost 24 hours a day as a fishing gear operator. He sorted through ribbonfish, red snapper, grouper, sharks, and rays from trawl nets. "Working on that vessel was an agonizing experience," he said. After two months, the captain forced all 27 Indonesian crew members to sign letters of resignation and dropped them near Dobo Port in Maluku's Aru Islands with severance pay of just Rp 1.5 million each.[^1]