The Hindu : Front Page : Back home from a sea of troubles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Back home from a sea of troubles

Rahi Gaikwad

Five of 22 crew members of Stolt Valor arrive in Mumbai amid scenes of joy

Mumbai: Five of the 22 crew members of the merchant vessel Stolt Valor that was hijacked off Somalia arrived to a heart-warming welcome here early on Monday. Within minutes, they were surrounded by their loved ones who showered them with hugs.

Tired but visibly happy, Santosh Patil and Om Prakash Shukla of Mumbai, Naveed Burondkar of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and Isidore Fernandes and Alistair Fernandes of Goa patiently narrated their experiences to mediapersons.

“I feel very good. I missed my family. When I spoke to them from the ship they would cry,” said Mr. Patil, 19, a fleet management cadet for whom this was his first trip to foreign shores.

His jubilant father said that after the family got the news of the hijack, “we did not celebrate Dasara or Deepavali.”

He added: “The family was tense and my wife was ill. Now we are seeing our son after 71 days. We will celebrate Deepavali now. We will not ask Santosh about the experience and would like to just let him relax for a couple of months.”

Of the nightmare

At a press conference, the young men spoke of their two-month-long nightmare. “Twenty-four hours we were at gunpoint. All the 22 of us were kept on the navigation bridge of the ship and not allowed to go anywhere. Two persons would go for a shower at a time. We had to seek permission for everything, even to attend the nature’s call,” said Mr. Alistair.

Describing the Somali pirates, Mr. Naveed said they were drug addicts and carried automatic guns. He recalled that the most scary moment was the hijacking itself.

“When they boarded the ship they were continuously firing. So the first 48 hours, which was the deadline given for the payment of ransom, were the most tense.”

There were at least 30 pirates, Mr. Alistair said. “Money hungry and aggressive,” is how they described their assailants.

The sailors did not understand the language spoken by the hijackers. However, there was one negotiator among them who spoke English.

The crew-members were briefed about the progress of the investigations. In the beginning, they had lost all hope of being rescued, but a few phone conversations with family members kept their hopes afloat.

“Every Sunday we were allowed to speak to our families only for three minutes. My family told me to pray and have faith in God,” said Mr. Alistair.

They have been hardened by the bitter experience. Yet, they are willing to go back to the Gulf of Aden again, if required.

Asked to speak about any lessons they had learnt from the experience, Mr. Naveed could only say that such an experience should not befall anyone. However, if it does, it was important not to lose faith.

Mr. Isidore, 29, a chief cook, looked bemused by all the attention. He was there sans his family members, who live in Goa. Not a novice to sailing, he cooked food for the crew for the first nine days after the hijacking. He had been to the Gulf of Aden even earlier but this was his first brush with danger.

Negotiations

The crew-members were employed by Hong Kong-based Ebony Ship Management. The company’s senior manager (training), Captain Kishor Shingare, said the ship’s Japanese owner discussed their terms of release during negotiations and the company was not aware of the pirates’ demands. “We only know that after the last round of negotiations last Sunday, the pirates left the ship,” he said.

The crew and their family members commended the efforts of the employers, the trade unions, the government and the media that led to their safe release.

The National Association of Seafarers of India (NUSI) pointed out that with the deployment of the Indian Navy to the Gulf of Aden, a “strong message has been sent” to the criminals.

Seeking to remove the aura of adventure associated with pirates, it said they should only be seen as “maritime terrorists.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page