Not far from our vessel, in small fibre boats kept in a big ship, seven fierce and armed young Somalian pirates were waiting to hijack our ship.
Prabhat Goyal, captain of MT Stolt Valor that was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, narrates the horror
It was September 13. I was sitting in my cockpit and instructed the second officer manning the navigation office to change the course of the ship to Gulf of Aden, not realising that in next 24 hours he will be sailing just to live a two month long nightmare.
Not far from our vessel, in small fibre boats kept in a big ship, seven fierce and armed young Somalian pirates were waiting to hijack our ship. All of us had had lunch. The sea was quiet, but it was, of course, the lull before the storm.
Suddenly, we heard rocket propellant grenade being fired at us. Though the grenade missed our vessel, we knew what lay in store. I looked out and saw armed pirates frenetically rowing their boats to get closer to our vessel. I tried to change direction but could not do it. The ship was laden and it was not possible to speed up in short time.
The boats came close and they climbed onto the vessel. In the cockpit, I told my second officer to get in touch with the Mumbai office over satellite phone. Somehow, we could not get through. I tried to signal other ships, but nothing happened. The joint marine force of UN did not respond. Weak signals further sealed our fate. The pirates were armed with AK-47, rocket launcher and knives. They headed straight for me and I knew that it’s all over. One of them grabbed me by the throat and mumbled something, but I did not understand a word. I saw another one slapping one of the crew members and gestured to all to assemble in the bridge.
Next thing I did was call up my wife Seema and tell her to call up everyone in Mumbai and tell them of the hijack. At that point of time, nobody knew whether the pirates wanted to rob the ship or kill us. But all of us were scared. The pirate looked menacing and dangerous. Most of them were young, the youngest 17 years old. They all wore torn cloths and spoke a native language. They were high on drugs, taking turns to do drugs. The younger pirates looked keen to kill us when negotiations seemed to be heading nowhere.
The first thing they did after hijacking the vessel was to snatch our mobiles and replace them with their sims. They called up other members to join them. They did not torture anybody, but we thought we would die.
On the morning of the third day, the crew woke up to find the pirates wearing different clothes, they had got hold of our clothes. All the crew members were kept in different sections. The ship’s captain shared the cockpit with the pirate leader.
The leader knew a smattering of English and it was getting clear that they wanted ransom. Ahmed kept a gun and a dictionary with him all the time. I was able to speak to him only and helped him draft a message to our office.
They allowed us to call up relatives and office once a day. It later became once in three days. Once, they even took seven people out of the ship to put pressure on the negotiations.
Meanwhile, my wife Seema was working things back home. The media supported us all through. The pirates finally changed mood. They started fighting among themselves when it became clear a ransom would be paid. The ship was freed after a big argument among the pirates. I heaved a sigh of relief when the ship finally left the Somali cost for
Muscat where our people were waiting to welcome us.