The crew of the MT Stolt Valor remains undeterred despite being held captive for two months by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. At a press conference on Monday, the sailors said they do not fear venturing into the same region again.
“We have no issues. It (the Gulf of Aden) is the shortest route (to Europe) and to take any other route, the vessel would have to pass around Africa,” said cadet Naveet Burondkar, who was among five of the 18 crew members who reached Mumbai on Monday.
The other four are cook Isidore Fernandes, general steward Alistair Fernandes, cadet Santosh Patil and pump-man Om Prakash Shukla. The remaining crew members are expected to reach the city today. The ship was hijacked on September 15 and was released only after the pirates were paid an undisclosed amount as ransom.
The crew members said the pirates seized the ship after firing a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) from a speedboat. “No one understood what was going on. They first fired an RPG towards our ship, but it fell 10 to 15 metres short. They were also carrying automatic weapons,” Burondkar, 20, said.
The pirates, the crew said, were gun-toting drug addicts, with nothing but money in their minds. Describing the ordeal, Alistair Fernandes said: “All 22 crew members were made to stay and sleep on the navigation bridge. We had to take permission for everything and only two members could go to the toilet at one time.”
“They were crazy and kept all of us at gunpoint for at least an hour each day,” said Shukla.
“Although the vessel was well stocked and we lived on a diet of lentils and meat, I had to cook for the pirates for nine days,” said Isidore Fernandes.
The sailors, however said that they were not tortured. “We were not hurt physically. But there was mental trauma from the realisation that we would be shot were we to retaliate,” Alistair Fernandes said.
Burondkar said he and the others weren’t sure of the number of pirates present on the merchant tanker after it was hijacked. “We have no idea as we were on the navigation bridge.”
Captain PK Goyal, master of the vessel, kept his crew updated about the negotiation between the hijackers and the ship’s Japanese owner Yamamaru Kissen c/o Central Marine.
Abdul Gani, general secretary, National Union of Seafarers of India, labelled the Somali pirates as “maritime terrorists” and warned against romanticising them. “People try to romanticise pirates. That’s wrong. Greater protection should be accorded to ships in the region.”
Regarding the ransom amount, Asish Sinha, business development manager, Ebony Ship Management Pvt Ltd, crew manager for the tanker, said it remained unknown since “the negotiation process was between the owner and professional negotiators. The owner’s intention was safe release.”
b_linah@dnaindia.net
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