They treated us like animals: Piracy victim

The horrific story of Jawaid Khan and his tryst with Somali pirates took center stage at a special session on Wednesday’s anti-maritime piracy conference in Dubai.

FREEDOM AT A PRICE... Captain Jawaid S.Khan with wife Shahnaz and daughters Nareman and Mishal at the counter-piracy conference in Dubai on Wednesday. — KT photo by Shihab

For 22 months, pirates off the coast of Somalia held Jawaid Khan and his crew from MV Albedo hostage. He recalled moments of anguish and helplessness as he shared stories of torture faced at the hands of pirates in an interview with Khaleej Times.

“We were living like animals. After our capture, I felt someone had taken us back to the stone age. It was very different from normal human civilisation,” said Jawaid.

“At one point of time, we were left with a mat to lie on in the open desert under the sun. There were a few small shrubs and barely any shade. We had to break wood from these shrubs and somehow make a fire to cook food. They would throw some potatoes and onions to keep us alive.”

MV Albedo’s 22 crew members included seven Pakistanis, seven Sri Lankans, five Bangladeshis, two Indians and one Iranian.

Khaleej Times had reported the family’s plight in October 2011 as his daughters, Nareman Jawaid and Mishal Jawaid, reached out to the Pakistani community with a media appeal. “For the first four months, I had no communication with my family. The pirates did offer me an opportunity to speak with them but I had negotiated on behalf of other captives to give them a chance to speak to their loved ones.”

Twice, the captive sailors were subject to extreme conditions and they were left out in the open desert, remembers Jawaid.

“They wanted to torture us physically and psychologically. The pirates always target the ship’s captain and ask him to raise money by pressuring the owner. The next target is usually the chief engineer.

“When onboard the ship, our entire crew was kept in one room and we were not supposed to move. We were asked to always lie down. Our routine was just eating and sleeping.”

His release was announced in March 2012 after negotiators agreed to pay $2.85 million in ransom to secure the release of all captive sailors onboard the Malaysia-flagged carrier.

“I always advise seafarers to work with credible ship owners and work on safe routes. The number of attacks has reduced but the risk still remains on certain routes crossing through East Africa. We have to find solutions soon.”

The vessel was hijacked 293 miles west off the Maldives in the Indian Ocean while heading to Mombasa port from Jebel Ali port in Dubai laden with containers.

muaz@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE