Somalian hijackers release 3 Indian crew

Mumbai: While families of those on board the Stolt Valor wait for some news. It was joy for families of the three Indian sailors freed from M V Iran Deyanat, another ship that was hijacked by Somalian pirates on August 21 in the Gulf of Aden.

Crew members Akbar Ali Juvale, Jeeva D'souza and Anthony Themudo landed at the Mumbai airport this morning after being held captive for almost 2 months.

They were the three Indians among the 26-member crew of the cargo ship.

Member of Akbar’s family Mubina Juvale said, "I'm very happy. Lots of people from our family are in the shipping industry. He will surely go back on a ship."

The crew were released late on Friday unharmed.

Every moment of their two-month ordeal is fresh in their minds.

"They took control of our ship. We had no control and did not know where they were taking us," recalls Akbar.

D'souza says, "The pirates harassed us and kept us at gunpoint and scared us. For the first two days, phones were not allowed."

However, it is still a struggle for the families of those onboard another hijacked merchant vessel, the Stolt Valor, the Japanese ship was hijacked off the Gulf of Aden in September with 18 Indians among its crew.

Wife of Captain P K Goyal, one of the 18 Indian hostages, Seem Goyal says, “The ministry must expedite the situation. I want my husband back, but I know he will not come back without his crew members.”

The pirates have set a $2 mn ransom for the release of the crew.

Some Iranians and Croatians have also been given a free passage back home. However, it is still unclear if any ransom was paid for the release.

Somalian pirates hijacked the merchant vessel Iran Deyanat carrying 40,000 tonnes of iron ore en-route from China to Netherlands on the Red sea.

(With inputs from Dinesh Keluskar in Ratnagiri)

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