Freed Kenyan Sailors Tell Of Hijack Ordeal

Nairobi October 23, 2005 (The Nation) – There were cheers and tears of joy in Mombassa yesterday as Kenyan sailors held hostage for over a hundred days by pirates in the dangerous waters of Somalia finally sailed home yesterday.

The two vessels chartered by the United Nations to ship relief food to the lawless state were met early yesterday afternoon at the Mombassa port by excited family and friends of the brave seamen who set out on humanitarian missions - only to have the very people they were trying to help turn against them.

One of the vessels, mv Semlow and its crew had been detained for nearly four months after it was hijacked on June 27 while taking relief food donated by World Food Programme (WFP) to tsunami victims in northern Somalia .

The other vessel mv Miltzow was detained by another group of Somali pirates three weeks ago as it took fuel and water supplies to the mv Semlow which had been set free. Another vessel mv Torgelow and its crew captured last week is still being detained by Somali pirates.

All the ships are owned by Motaku Shipping Agency.

The two vessels arrived at the Mombassa port at 12.40pm .

The crew members of mv Semlow who arrived after the grueling and terrifying ordeal are a Sri Lankan Captain, S. Mahalingham, a Tanzanian engineer, Juma Mvita Juma, and eight Kenyans among them Patrick Ogutu (able seamen), Mohammed Shee (chief officer), Juma Rajab Mwakidimu (cook), Hassan Abdalla Sudi (bosun), Mwinyi Juma (greaser), Gregory Musyoka (greaser) and Rashid Juma (able seaman).

Yesterday, as he took his first steps on firm and safe ground in nearly four months, 36-year-old Patrick Ogutu recalled the most frightening experience of his seafaring career.

He was relaxing with his colleagues in the mess room after dinner when the pirates stormed their vessel.

"It was like a horror movie because out of the blues, we were confronted by heavily armed people threatening to shoot us if we made any false moves," he said.

The most frightening moment came when the pirates wanted to know the religion those on the ship.

"Immediately I heard that, I knew for some of us who were Christians trouble was looming and I quickly told them that we were all Muslims," he said.

Mr. Ogutu however said although he even took on the name of Abubakar, he still feared he would be found out when the pirates checked the crew list.

Captain Mahalingam narrated how his vessel fell into the hands of the pirates and the harrowing experience he faced with his crew.

"It was around 8pm when the pirates, between 15 and 20 - struck. They came in three speed boats and were firing into the air shouting Stop! Stop! Within seconds they had managed to board our vessel and were all over," he said.

Captain Mahalingam said immediately the pirates boarded, they asked him how many people were on board and demanded money.

"With the gun placed on my head I led them to the ship's safe where they took US$8,500, the vessel's documents and other documents related to the WFP cargo of rice we were carrying," he said.

After the pirates had emptied the safe, they started ransacking the crew's cabins, taking away everything including money, mobile phones and other personal effects.

Ship engineer Juma Mvita Juma said being in charge of the vessel's operations made him the target of threats from the pirates.

"They constantly threatened to shoot me if anything went wrong and, at times, they ordered us to chase other vessels they wanted to hijack using ours," he said.

Mr. Juma said their vessel was used to hijack an Egyptian vessel mv Ibn Batuta which was however released later.

And the vessel's 62 year-old chief officer, Mr. Mohammed Shee, who has been a seaman for more than 40 years, said at first they were terrified, but they later got used to the threats from the pirates.

"One of the biggest problem we faced was communicating with the pirates because they did not speak Arabic and only one spoke English," he said.

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