The scars may have faded but memories continue to haunt Ravinder Singh. He is one of the few people who can empathise with the 13 Indians being held hostage by Somali pirates for over two years.
The scars may have faded but memories continue to haunt Ravinder Singh. He is one of the few people who can empathise with the 13 Indians being held hostage by Somali pirates for over two years.
Like them, Singh lived under constant threat of death, beatings, torture and starvation when he was held hostage for nine months. About the 13 Indian crewmembers of MV Iceberg being held hostage for over two years, he is not sure even if they are still alive.
Speaking to DNA, 32-year-old Singh gives a glimpse of the sufferings of those held hostage by Somali pirates.
“One day a pirate suddenly charged at us. He picked an Egyptian, poured oil over him and set him ablaze. We could do nothing. The pirates did it because negotiations weren’t going on very well. Then they started punching a Pakistani crew member’s face and broke all his teeth. From then on, beatings became a regular feature,” he recalls sitting in his home at Kasandi village in Haryana’s Sonepat district.
Singh was held hostage between August 2010 and June 2011. He was one of the six Indians onboard MV Suez who returned home, thanks to the efforts of Pakistan human rights activist Ansar Burney. It was his efforts that led to the ransom being paid to the pirates for their release.
They used to get a meagre meal once a day and half a bottle of water. “We used to get boiled potatoes and steamed rice but there was no guarantee when this single meal would arrive.”
Now too scared to return to sea, Singh says, “We were treated like animals. Around 15-20 pirates guarded us round the clock. Our ship was manned by 35-40 pirates at any given time. They would beat us whenever they got drunk.”
Sometimes, pirates would also play mind games on the hostages, says another sailor, who was held hostage on board RAK Africana. “Along with the captain, I was offloaded from the ship and taken ashore. They blindfolded us and fired in the air and then said they were going to kill us. We heard shots being fired in the air. It was a mock execution meant to scare us so that we would exert pressure on the ship owners to pay up.” The pirates freed them in March 2011.
“We were allowed to take bath once in 10 days. They used the captive ships as the mother vessel for hijacking other ships,” he remembers.
Burney, who was in Delhi this month, told DNA that over 25 vessels with more than 600 crew members are being held hostage by pirates now. He was in Somalia to negotiate for more releases and has done more than Indian government in getting seamen back home. Burney said: “Governments have to be more pro-active to combat this threat and get our people back.”
The Indian government, however, is evasive and is not disclosing its strategy to bring back the men. Director General of Shipping Satish B Agnihotri told DNA, “This is an ongoing case. In case of piracy, we do not open our cards.”
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