Held hostage by Somali pirates, after 18 months, 13 Mynamar sailors return home
Pic: Aye Zaw Myo
A GROUP of 13 Myanmar sailors held captive by Somali pirates in appalling conditions for about 15 months returned home to relieved friends and family earlier this month.
The men were handed over to the United Nations in August after the pirates realised they would not get a ransom from the Thai owner of the boat.
Ko Pan Aung, 36, head of the workers on PV Prantalay 12, owned by Thai company PT Interfishery, said he and about 60 other Myanmar sailors on three boats had been captured on April 18, 2010 in Indian waters.
Ko Pan Aung was one of 13 who returned on November 1. Another freed Myanmar sailor decided to remain in Somalia, while five on his boat died in captivity, probably from malnutrition.
“There were 25 pirates … they approached our vessels with two speed boats and ordered us to stop. We thought that they were coastguard so we stopped and let them on board. When we found out they were pirates, we were taken captive. Three of our boats – Prantalay 11, 12 and 14 – were captured at the same time,” said Ko Pan Aung, adding that there were about 60 Myanmar sailors on the three boats, while the rest were Thai.
The pirates demanded US$9 million ransom for the boats, but the owner apparently couldn’t afford to pay up. Food began to run short and most of the sailors became seriously ill.
“Five died after their bodies puffed up and they suffered breathing difficulties. Because of the malnutrition and lack of clean drinking water, nearly everybody suffered from that illness. The water we were given was smelly and salty but we had no choice but to drink it. We didn’t see any vegetables at all while we were kidnapped. They gave us baked wheat and noodles mixed with tomato sauce to eat. Sometimes we had only one meal for the whole day,” Ko Pan Aung said.
The pirates then decided to use the boats to capture another boat. They returned to Indian waters and hijacked a Sri Lankan fishing boat in November 2010.
“The pirates split into two groups and 13 captured the Sri Lankan boat. Twelve pirates guarded our boat and we were ordered to stay in the Indian waters with the engine stopped. About 3am one morning a warship appeared. They ordered the pirates to stop the boat … at that time one Myanmar sailor jumped from our boat and was saved by the warship. The warship followed us until the morning but at they gave up the chase when we left Indian waters,” Ko Pan Aung said.
He said the two pirate groups organised to meet up off the Somali coast – the pirates had by this stage hijacked a Bangladeshi boat as well – but there was a disagreement and they became involved in a shootout.
“A bullet grazed the head of one of our sailors and they stopped shooting … and we set anchor near the Somali shore. We suffered various difficulties, including lack of food, water and medicine. Everybody was unwell. One night in July, our ship hit rocks in bad weather and sunk. Four Thai nationals, 14 Myanmar and four pirates escaped from the boat. When we reached the shore, the pirates attacked each other again. We crouched in the sand the whole night. In the morning, we were sent to their camps in the desert. After about six days we were sent to another desert area. They realised that they would not get any money from us so they separated the four Thai nationals and freed us after making contact with some UN agencies,” he said.
Ko Pan Aung said they first met with the UN officials in Somalia in August. About three months later they returned to Yangon via Nairobi, Kenya and Thailand.
“An official from the Myanmar embassy came and met us in Bangkok. They encouraged us and also said they would help in getting our salary.”
He said the sailors would never forget their awful experience, the first brush with piracy in their careers. “Before that we’d only seen pirates in the movies … none of us had been to the desert before either. It was so hot and sand was always flying in the air. We couldn’t even open our eyes properly. We had to cover our heads when we were sleeping and our body would be covered with sand when we woke up in the morning.”
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