After spending 62 days under the threat of Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades, four sailors who were among the crew of Stolt Valor, the Hong Kong flagged and Japanese owned chemical tanker hijacked by Somali pirates, returned home on Monday. It was time for chaotic jubilation as all four stepped out. Emotions ran high and one could notice relief on the face of their grieved parents, friends and relatives as sailors Naveed Burondkar, Isidore Fernandes, Santosh Patil, Allister Fernandes and Omprakash Shulka hugged them.“We’re grateful to everyone who’ve not just helped us in this fight but have been emotionally involved with us for the past two months,” said Murad Burondkar, as he took his son Naveed (21), the youngest crew member, to a nearby hotel. The general secretary of the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), Abdul Ghani Serang, was also present.“We were at gunpoint 24 hours a day and were not allowed even a minute’s free movement,” said Allister, a cook onboard the tanker. According to Fernandes, all 22 crew members were held on the ship’s bridge in unhygienic conditions. “We’d had to take permission even to take a shower and even then only two members were allowed to go at a time,” added Fernandes.The sailors said most of the Somalian pirates were drug addicts, consuming drugs throughout the night and sleeping during the day. “At any point of time there were between 25 to 35 sailors on board and they would take away our things,” said Isidore. “They wore our clothes and took away our mobile phones,” he added.Naveed said the pirates’ behaviour was inhuman and all they were bothered about was money. “There was no violence but they threatened to kill us in the first three to four days,” said Naveed. There was no communication between the sailors and the pirates as they did not understand each other’s language. “We used to observe their body language and guess what they were saying. The negotiator would update our captain on the progress of negotiations with the Japanese owner,” said Naveed. The crew were allowed to speak to their family for three minutes each on Sundays, the sailors said.
