A four-month-long hostage ordeal ended for nearly two dozen Tunisian sailors after millions of dollars in ransom was dropped off by helicopter.
The crew of the Hannibal II arrived back in Tunisia on Tuesday (March 22nd) after being released by Somali pirates. A $2 million ransom was paid to free the sailors.
Their vessel was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on November 11th as it was heading towards Suez from Malaysia. The ship's 31 crew members, including 22 Tunisians, were released on March 17th.
"It was the worst time of our lives," ship captain Faouzi Fradi said. "We could have easily been killed if we did something rash or got involved in a fight with any of them. But we were quiet. I thought of my family and children and hoped to go home safe and my wish came true. Thank God, I am back and will see them again."
A unit of French Marines first had to find the ship, and later on, another unit had to ensure the ship's safety until it made it to Djibouti, explained Admiral Chedli Cherif, who was in charge of the negotiations with the Somali pirates. The Tunisian government also dispatched an aircraft with a military medical team to fly the crew home from Djibouti.
"We reached a solution nearly a month ago after long strenuous negotiations. Discussions were tough, because as time went by, their demands grew," Tunisian Transport Minister Yacine Ibrahim said.
Negotiations reduced the ransom demand from $10 million to $4 million, according to the vessel's owner, Farid Abbas. "This is a standard practice among pirates. They always demand huge amounts of money at the start. It happened in several incidents before. We estimated the ransom at around $4 million," Abbas said.
As for how the ransom was handed over to the pirates, a Tunisian foreign ministry official explained that it was dropped aboard the Hannibal II by a helicopter.
Crew member Haitham Ka'loul told Magharebia, "We had to fast for days because the food was not enough. They gave us their leftovers which were mostly boiled rice and in some cases very little fish. We ate, slept and prayed at their commands. We were slaves at their beck and call and they kept a close eye on us. We were constantly held at gun point."
Aws Al-Khashini said they suffered the worst kind of treatment. "Human life is worthless to them. The only thing they care about is money. I don't think they are Muslims. Islam cannot have anything to do with those practices because ransoms are unlawful in Islam."
Describing how the vessel was hijacked, he said, "On the night between November 10th and 11th, we saw boats which had pirates with heavy artillery on board. They fired at us in the beginning, then boarded our vessel and seized it. They also took possession of our money, clothes and phones and threatened to kill us if we did not obey orders. So we did."
He added that after they were kidnapped, they saw a number of other hijacked ships including the Algerian MV Blida.
"We went through fearful days. We were surrounded by danger. We lost all hope of being saved, especially when we saw that hostages from other ships were killed and thrown in the sea," Béchir Ghdaoui said.
Ghdaoui added that pirates also used them as human shields, hiding behind them during their raids on other vessels. He said that after their ship was released, it was nearly hijacked again. But a French warship drove off the pirates, allowing their safe arrival in Djibouti.
Source: Magharebia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment