It was November 26, 2010. Four Somali pirates on a speedboat came to the Malaysian flag-carrying merchant ship MV Albedo in the Indian Ocean. The ship owned by Iranian Aumit Khusro was going to Nairobi from Dubai. Two of the seven Bangladeshi sailors on that ship returned on Thursday and described their harrowing tales while speaking to the Dhaka Tribune.
“We were 23 sailors on board and were busy with our respective duties. Suddenly, three pirates holding AK 47 got into the ship with the help of a ladder and we were scared,” said Zakir Hossain at Marino Hotel in the capital’s Uttara on Friday evening.
Of the 23 crewmen, there were seven Bangladeshis, seven Pakistanis, six Sri Lankans, two Indians and one Iranian, he said.
“We were instructed to go to a fishing trawler about 10 kilometres away. We followed the order. Upon reaching it, we saw seven people in the trawler and they got onto our ship with arms,” he said.
“Following their instruction, we then reached Harvidaro, a place near Somalia which is a notorious hotbed of piracy, on December 1, 2010. We saw two to three boats coming, with 12 to 15 people on each. The captain, meanwhile, managed to send the message of piracy through email to the ship owner. We ate normal food as they allowed us to cook our food.
“After a few days, they brought a translator. The translator talked to the owner and demanded 20 million dollars for our release. The owner cried and said he was poor, had only one ship, and was incapable of paying such a large sum. He offered 3 lakh dollars but the pirates did not agree.”
Zakir said: “Our movement was restricted. We were allowed to use the toilet but ordered to finish within a minute. We were living in fear. They would occasionally slap and shout at us. For the first three to four days we lived under severe restriction as they did not believe us. We were allowed to have breakfast but not together.”
This is how we stayed nearly for four months, said Zakir, adding that the negotiation between the translator and the owner continued before they finally reached a deal amounting to 1.2 million dollars.
“The translator then met with the pirate leaders outside the ship but they disagreed on the amount. They brought a new translator after a few days and the negotiation began again. The new translator informed the owner that the pirates did not accept the amount and it had to be raised. The owner, however, said he was unable to do so.
“After four months, when we had no food left, they supplied rice, flour, salt, oil and potato. On April 1, 2011, the second translator allowed us to talk to our families.”
Describing his first contact with his family since being taken into captivity, Zakir said: “I talked to my elder brother and said we were held by pirates. My brother said he knew that. Then I talked to my mother. Both of us cried.”
The pirates hated Indians as Indian warships had captured them in the past and kept them in Indian jails for years, said Zakir.
“On June 25, 2011, they perhaps made a plan to kill one of us. Along with the translator, the commander pirate who captured the ship asked us to come to the bridge from where the ship is controlled. They were holding AK 47 and looked ferocious. Two of them took a look at all of us, went away and one came back.
“Raju, one of the 23 crewmen, was asked to go with the pirates. After 10 to 15 minutes, we heard three shots. The translator announced after a while that Raju had been killed and his body had been kept in the deep freezer. He told the owner that four more among us would be killed.”
Zakir said: “In April 2012, the pirates took away seven people outside the ship. Of them, three were Pakistanis, one Sri Lankan, one Bangladeshi (Aminul Islam), one Indian, and one Iranian. For six months, they stayed outside the ship.”
Describing his stay in jungle, Aminul Islam said: “We were kept for two months in a jungle. We slept in a piece of plastic cloth there. There was a ditch four miles away. I along with another sailor had to bring water in a 20-litre can three to four times every day on foot.”
“They asked us to inform our families that we would not be released without money. We did accordingly. Our families informed the government and the media ran reports. For the rest four months, we were kept in a room in a village of Somalia.
“We were given potato, onion, oil, salt and rice. We cooked but the food was really insufficient. After 6 months, we were taken back to the ship.”
During the six months, Zakir said there was no translator in the ship and no negotiation with the owner was held.
“We had to open 50 containers in the ship though there was no equipment in those. It was really hard to open the containers. The pirates suspected that there were arms in those. There was a swimming pool in the ship. We were taken to the swimming pool and one of the pirates urinated on us.”
He said: “One day the pirates found diesel concealed in the ship and became furious. In retaliation, we were not given any food for 36 hours. We were not even allowed to use the toilet.”
“On July 6 last year, the ship sank and four Sri Lankans drowned. We managed to swim to a fishing trawler and after 10 days, 11 of us were taken to land. We ended up in a room in a village in Somalia. Finally, we were able to go free because of assistance of the United Nations,” Aminul said.
Abul Kashem, Habibur Rahman, Nurul Haque, Golam Mostofa and Limon Sarker were released. Another four sailors securing release included two Sri Lankans, one Indian and one Iranian.
