We were tortured by pirates and starved for days: Sailors

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) Tortured by a group of drunk
pirates and starved for days together, freedom seemed distant
for the six Indian sailors on board MV Suez, who had almost
given up hope of meeting their families.
And when freedom dawned upon them after ten months in
captivity of Somali pirates, they could not believe their
nightmare was over and were going to be reunited with family
and friends.
"We were beaten when they were drunk and they would
use anything they could get their hands on to beat us. We were
sure they would kill us. There were moments when I wished they
would just kill us so that we escape the torture," said N K
Sharma, a rescued sailor.
Ravinder Singh, said, "I feel so happy. I have waited
for 10 monthsfor this moment. I didn't think I would see this
day...I thought we all would be killed."
Torture apart, food was scarce for the sailors who
starved for many days. "Some days we just got water. We used
to get boiled rice, spaghetti and potato once a week," Sharma
recalled.
Adding to the ordeal, their vessel ran out of fuel and
faced the danger of capsizing, said Sharma. "Besides the
physical torture, we faced the danger of capsizing as our fuel
had run out and we were drifting. One way or the other, we
were sure our end was near," he said.
Prashant Chauhan, another rescued sailor said that
even after Pakistan human rights activist Ansar Burney
facilitated their release the sailors were still not sure if
their freedom was real.
"Even during our travel to Karachi, I didn't think we
were actually going back to our families. The thing we thought
would never happen was hapenning now. When I de-boarded my
flight I realised this was real. Our nightmare was truly
over," Chauhan said.
The rescued sailors, however, refused to comment on
the role played by the Indian government in facilitating their
release, which has come in for sharp criticism from the media
and families of the sailors.
"Indian and Pakistani media helped us a lot. As far as
the Indian government's role in the release, I don't want to
comment on it," said Ravinder.
Now all that the sailors want to do is to be spend
time with their families and to recover from the nightmare.
"We've been through a lot these past few months. I just want
to get back to my family," said a visibly overwhelmed Biju
from Thiruvanthapuram.
The crew of the MV Suez was brought to Karachi
Thursday by Pakistan Navy warship PNS Zulfiqar, which had
picked up sailors from the waters off Oman. The MV Suez had
sank somewhere off the coast of Oman after running out of
fuel.
The crew, including 11 Egyptians, four Pakistanis and
one Sri Lankan, were shifted to Pakistani warship PNS Babar
after the MV Suez ran out of fuel and started sinking.
The crew was then transferred to another warship, PNS
Zulfiqar, for the voyage to Pakistan. The MV Suez, owned by an
Egyptian company, had been first boarded by Somali pirates in
August last year. PTI EKA
SSB