Mumbai: Seven Indian sailors freed by Somali pirates after 4 years return home

Seven Indian sailors, who were freed by the Somali pirates after four years in captivity, returned home on Monday.

The sailors, who were among a group of 16 abducted along with their vessel ‘MV Asphalt Venture’ off the Somali coast, had been released late last week. They landed at Mumbai airport by a flight from Nairobi, sources said. According to sources, the seven were kept in captivity on land in Africa after the pirates released eight of their colleagues along with the ship three years ago.

Those who arrived in Mumbai include Bahadur Singh (60) and Manjeet Singh (60) from Mumbai, Unnikrishnan Bhaskaran (60) and K George (40) from Kerala, Deniston (27) from Tamil Nadu, and Bhim Singh (40) from Vishakapatnam.

However, even as the exhausted sailors returned home, a Mumbai Mirror report said that it would take some time for them to join their families.“As per protocol and considering the trauma they have undergone all the sailors are being debriefed and are currently undergoing counselling. As they appeared malnourished, a team of doctors are also attending to them,” said Sunil Nair of the National Union of Seafarers in the report.

“The sailors were extremely weak when we got their custody on October 30,” Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP) regional director (south Asia) Chirag Bahri said in a report in The Times of India. “The sailors said that when the pirated would run out of engine oil or other amenities, they would get angry and fire from near their ears. They were provided food occasionally, just enough to live. The water which they were given to drink was harvested rainwater, usually contaminated by wild creatures causing infections,” he added.

On the other hand, another report in The Times of India said that the sailors had definitely spent some time with their families, as they took a tour of Mumbai and visited temples and churches to seek blessings. “I am extremely happy to be with my family! We lost all hope for survival but now that I am back again with my family, it is like a new beginning! Thanks to all who assisted us, especially MPHRP and Bahri,” chief engineer Bhim Sen Singh, from Punjab, told The Times Of India.

The Mumbai Mirror report also added that Kenya-based civil society organisation, Ecoterra International, which had led the negotiations for the release of the sailors, confirmed that a ransom had been paid but refused to disclose the ransom amount.

MV Asphalt Venture was one of the longest hostage sagas lasting over four years.

Waters in the Gulf of Aden, a busy sea route, were infested with alleged Somali pirates for a sustained period over the past few years. At one time the pirates made millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships sailing the Horn of Africa nation’s waters, but increased patrols by international navies on the Indian Ocean have reduced incidences of piracy.

(With agency inputs)