The Hindu : Front Page : NATO warship rescues 14 Indian sailors

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Monday, Jun 15, 2009
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NATO warship rescues 14 Indian sailors

Dubai: Fourteen Indian sailors, taken hostage and beaten by heavily armed Somali pirates for 10 days, were rescued by a NATO warship off the coast of Somalia after their dhow was released.

Captain of ‘Vishvakalyan’ Ismail Abdurehman said the pirates attacked the dhow which carried a shipment of charcoal from Brava, south of Mogadishu, to Sharjah in the UAE on June 3.

Firing in the air, six pirates armed with AK-47s and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher approached the dhow in a high-speed skiff and forced the vessel to stop. Two more skiffs with a dozen more pirates joined the attack. On board, the pirates beat the sailors from Gujarat.

The crew was held hostage for 10 days somewhere near Hobyo, north of Mogadishu, on the Somali coast. The pirates stripped the crew of their clothes, took away their mobile phones, radios and gifts they were taking back to India for their families.

“They stole our shampoo, trousers and shirts,” a crew member said. Captain Abdurehman said the pirates stole all the dhow’s food. Only three chickens and a cat were left on board.

“They hit the crew all over, on the head, everywhere,” Alison Bevege, an Australian journalist on board a Portuguese warship patrolling for pirates in the waters off Somalia, quoted Abdurehman as saying.

Two pirates stood on either side of helmsman Safraj Ismail, put guns to his head and forced him to steer the ship back to Somalia, crewman Sabir Jusab said.

“They choked and beat the captain,” Jusab said. — PTI

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