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Happy to be back: Kiran is reunited with his relieved family Pic courtesy/Daijiworld.com |
Kiran D'Souza (28) was received by his relieved family members after a long long wait.
Kiran was one of the three Indian crew members of the cargo ship, Iran Deynat, which was hijacked by Somalian pirates on August 21, 2008. After much deliberation and negotiation, Kiran was finally released unharmed.
Sounding exhausted yet relieved, Kiran took a few moments off to share his nightmarish experience in captivity.
Cruel intentions
"I never expected that life would take such a cruel turn. On that dreaded day of August 21 at around 6.30 am when our ship was on its way to Poland, around 16 pirates in two speedboats took over our ship. Prior to this, they even fired in the air. They managed to get on to the ship from behind using a ladder.
"Once they were inside, they immediately demanded that all the money on board be handed over to them.
Startled, the captain immediately paid them $10,000 which was on board. One of them said it was not enough and demanded more. They then told the captain to steer the ship to an unknown location.
"Brandishing pistols and AK 47 rifles, they made the captain change the direction of the ship at least four times," he said.
"I have never seen such people in my life. They were mean, barbaric, fired their guns for no rhyme or reason and were drugged all the time.
There was not a single moment where we saw them speaking politely. All that they wanted is the money and we were harassed and abused constantly for that.
Hungry for 5 days
"Towards the last few days of captivity, we did not eat even a morsel of food nor had a drop of water. For the first few days, we were given two slices of bread each and had to be content with that the entire day.
However, during the last five days we did not even get a slice of bread as the stock had run out. I have lost 15 kgs," he added.
"We were made to sit inside the rooms all the time and there was no chance of us even stepping out of these rooms. If we ever tried to step out, these people would start firing at us. We had no idea as to what was going on and all we heard was the government was negotiating our release. Negotiations went on for almost 30 days.
"We gradually started losing hope. We were not able to get in touch with anyone and all modes of communication including satellite communication were cut off by the pirates."
Systematic rogues
Further elucidating their style of functioning, he said, "These pirates worked in shifts and were quite systematic in their functioning. They never slipped up. Guns were pointing at us all the time and they would not have hesitated to kill us if we had tried to even move freely. All of them spoke only in the Somalian language.
Interestingly, they had a mediator with them who was fluent in English as well. He was the one who was doing all the talking with the Iranian government.
"They finally managed to have their way when the Iranian government handed over the money demanded. They just left the ship after they received the money and did not harass us after that. The ship then headed to the Salalah port, from where our travel arrangements were made. I reached Mumbai on Thursday along with two other Indian members Akbar and Anthony on the ship. From there, I flew to Mangalore while they headed to Ratnagiri and Goa respectively, he said.
Not again!
"Yes, I am relaxed at the moment. But I am extremely scared. I will surely get back to work after six months, but I will never travel on a ship that will take the route which our ill-fated ship did. I have requested my company not to put me on that route again.
"Homecoming for me was indeed a great and an unforgettable experience. It was really emotional to see my parents. Incidentally, it is my niece's birthday today and hence it a great day for my family which has undergone so much trauma all these days. All they could do was pray for my safe return. Their prayers have finally been answered."
'Don't go back'
His family does not want him to go back to work, at least for a few months, as according to them Jeevan has become too weak and pale.
"We want him to take complete rest and regain his health. We want him to be there for Christmas as this year's celebrations will be special for us. We will celebrate the festival in a grand way," said Asha D'Souza, Jeevan's sister-in-law.
