Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995                   TAG: 9504180111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

STRANDED ROMANIANS FLY HOME, THANKFULLY

The last eight sailors flew Saturday from Virginia to their native Romania.

As they prepared to board their plane at Norfolk International Airport, there were lots of tears, hugs and kisses, and thanks to those who had helped them during their stay.

There also were a few brief moments of panic when some of the men learned they would have to leave some belongings behind because their luggage was over the weight limit.

But Marian Parachiv did not panic. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to return to Virginia.

``When you leave something, you have to return,'' he said. ``And I do plan on coming back because I have family here.''

Parachiv, 34, said he leaves Newport News with mixed emotions.

``I am between waters, as sailors say,'' he said. ``One part of my heart is here with all my friends, and the other side of my heart is in Romania with my wife and 4-year-old daughter.''

The friends he speaks of are volunteers with the International Seaman's Friend's House in downtown Newport News. The Seaman's House provided the men with shelter, food, clothing and medical care when they and their ship were abandoned by Kent Trading Corp. of Piraeus, Greece.

The group also paid the sailors' airfare, $670 each. The money was raised through donations from throughout the Hampton Roads community, said Alice Reese Thomas, executive director of the Seaman's House.

The plight of the mixed-nationality crew of 17 sailors aboard the Taxiarchis came to light after the ship was declared unseaworthy by the Coast Guard. The Taxiarchis was en route to Canada from Puerto Rico when it was abandoned in Newport News.

The ship was seized by the Coast Guard and sold at auction for $100,000. The sailors lived on the ship until February, when the new owner brought in a new crew. A motel provided the men with rooms while lawyers helped them try to recover the wages they were owed. The men reached an out-of-court settlement that entitled them to 65 percent to 70 percent of their wages.

Thomas said she gets angry when she thinks about how the men were exploited by the ship's owners.

``But they are going home, and they need to go home to see their families,'' she said. ``So, I'm both happy and sad.''