In a speech at the Piraeus event, Nicolas A Tsavliris said that Mr Pappas and members of the Tasman Spirit crew, also detained, were 'suffering unfairly'.

Pappas and the others are not allowed to leave Pakistan and the salvage master was made to spend his 40th birthday away from home last month.

'We wish for him as well as his family, who are standing by him, that this ordeal will soon be over and he will be back with us again', said Mr Tsavliris.

That view was echoed by the European Parliament, the United Nations through the IMO and the Greek Government, all of which have called for Mr Pappas and the four Greek and three Filipino crew of Tasman Spirit be released.

Salvage works have been controversially but successfully completed, with Smit Salvage BV, operating under a wreck removal contract agreed with the American Club, the vessel's liability insurers. The aft section was refloated on 6 March and delivered to buyers at Pakistan's Gadani Beach following an earlier removal of the forward section. It was critical to remove the wreck before the onset of the monsoon season.

Navigation is now much safer into and out of Karachi Port, which handles 90% of Pakistan's seaboard trade.

A joint statement issued by Smit Salvage and the American Club after the wreck removal was complete said, 'We will not consider this operation successful until the crew are released. The Club have cleaned up the oil, removed the wreck and offered to pay compensation in accordance with international standards. We have met the KPT in London and Karachi, written to President Musharraf and we have done everything asked of us. The Club's good intentions are proven, it is now up to Pakistan to release the Karachi Eight.'

MJ Information No 19208