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Mogadishu, November 28, 2009 – "Nightmarish" is the
way the crew of the Al-Meezan cargo vessel recount their time in
captivity at the hands of Somali pirates.
One week after being freed, this Panama-flagged ship with 18 sailors on
board, including 15 Indians and two Pakistanis, is anchored in the port
of Mogadishu.
Somali dockers, with traditional wraps round their waists, shout as they
shift sacks of flour on the quay, under the gaze of the crew members on
the gangway.
The second officer Niaz Mohamad, a Pakistani, welcomed the journalists
on board by saying he was relieved to be able to talk to "normal"
people.
"They treated us like dogs, they hit us, they threatened to kill us," he
said, obviously still traumatized by his time in captivity.
Al-Meezan set sail October 25 from Ajman (in the United Arab Emirates)
for Mogadishu," said the ship's captain Mohamad Shafi Noor, a
grandfather of 70 with a mane of grey hair.
"It was my first mission," he sighed.
"On November 3, when we were about 150 nautical miles from the Somali
coast, we were chased by three small boats with very powerful engines.
It's all in the logbook," the old man said, pointing to a black book on
the table.
"We'd hardly had time to raise the alarm when the attackers were already
on board. They're very intelligent. They immediately took over the
controls, switched off all the electronic equipment and headed for
Garacad" in north eastern Somalia where the ship anchored in the shelter
of a small island, he said.
Al-Meezan is one of the rare ships of this size that regularly sails to
Mogadishu and was already captured by pirates last May.
Great controversy surrounded its latest capture after a Somali official
said the vessel was carrying a big cargo of small arms.
The accusation was denied by the owner of the cargo, Abdi Ali Farah, a
Somali who heads the Juba General Trading Company. He said the ship was
carrying only sugar and general merchandise.
Built in 1979, the 2,000-ton 50-meter long Al-Meezan is managed from
Dubai by Biyat International.
The Al-Meezan 7906710 is owned by a company called Shahmir Maritime
based in the Carribean Grenadine Islands and described by people who
know it as a front company.
Chartered by Somali businessmen, the ship mostly plies between the Gulf
States and Somalia. When it was captured for the first time around the
pirates were already claiming it had arms on board.
"For this latest trip "we had on board sugar, construction materials and
some vehicles," captain Noor said with an exasperated gesture.
The pirates kept the 18 crew members locked up 24 hours a day in a tiny
room on the upper deck.
The only Somali crew member did the translating.
"When he wasn't around if you wanted to go to the toilet you had to
raise your little finger."
The most critical point came on November 17 "when they told us to take
the ship in to shore – we thought they were going to kill us", Noor
said.
The boat was freed the next day. The captain and his men said they had
no idea if a ransom had been paid.
"It was the duty of all those people who made a lot of money out of us
to pay up and save us," one tearful crew member told Agence
France-Presse in his cabin.
Noor, who feels "relatively safe" in Mogadishu port, said he was waiting
for instructions and was ready to go back to sea.
Source: AFP, Nov 27, 2009
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