A South Korean cargo ship is being held at an Abu Dhabi port for the second straight month with one of the sailors aboard in critical condition due to illness, officials said Tuesday.

The 16,000-ton freighter Pan Bless has been detained in the Abu Dhabi port since around May 20 for not paying fees. A local company that supplied fuel to the ship seized it through the port authorities, according to the Busan Regional Maritime Affairs and Port Administration.

The Busan-based company that owns the freighter currently has no ability to pay the fees because it applied to go into a court receivership in early April due to worsening management conditions, officials said.

Twenty sailors ― four South Korean and 16 Filipino ― are currently being held inside the ship in sweltering temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Celsius with no food and fuel, they said.

One of the sailors received an emergency surgery for peritonitis after having a seizure and is now in critical condition as he failed to receive additional treatment, the officials said.

The Busan agency said it was trying to find ways to pay the unpaid fees as early as possible so the sailors can be released. (Yonhap News)