NAIROBI: Eleven sailors held hostage for almost four years by Somali pirates escaped their captors and are safe in Kenya, mediators who helped secure their freedom said yesterday.
The sailors, who had been held in dire conditions and suffered beatings and torture, included seven men from Bangladesh, one Indian, one Iranian, and two from Sri Lanka.
John Steed, a former British army colonel who has spent years helping negotiate their release, said the men had “sneaked out a window” to escape their captors.
“It is great news that they are at least free... given what they have been through, they are all in good health,” Steed said after arriving safely in Kenya with the men on a special flight from Somalia.
After escaping through a window from their pirate prison, the men were rescued by security forces from the northern Somali Galmadug region, Steed added.
Their boat, the Malaysian-flagged container ship MV Albedo, was captured in November 2010 but sank in rough seas last July.
During their captivity, one Indian colleague was shot by the pirates in an argument, and four others from Sri Lanka drowned.
Seven other Pakistani crew members were released in 2012 after a businessman paid their ransom, but those remaining could not afford the hefty demands of the pirates.
The United Nations said they had been handed over to its care, and “will be repatriated to their home countries over the coming days.”
Thirty-eight other sailors from different boats remain captive.
AFP
