The first bullet cracked the ship’s operating console. The second came through the window of the bridge, from where the captain could see the intruders advancing across the green metal covers of the cargo deck, AK-47s in their hands.
There was little the 10 crew members of the MV Semlow could do. They were easily overpowered and were soon hostages on their own ship, the victims of Somali pirates who have made the waters off the Horn of Africa some of the most dangerous in the world.
”We heard some shots at about 8pm,” said the chief engineer, Juma Mvita, recalling the hijacking last year that lasted four months. Before he could power up the engines, the first pirates were scaling the hull on a ladder.
”They entered the ship while we were moving at around 12 knots. It seems they were very experienced, used to operating in rough seas,” Mvita said.
They have had plenty of practice. Last year, there was a dramatic escalation in the number of pirate raids off the 3 008km Somali coast, from two in 2004 to 35. Pirates are currently holding a cargo ship and four fishing trawlers hostage.
The attacks threaten trade and humanitarian aid — the Semlow was carrying sacks of rice for emergency food aid in Somalia. The United Nations has been forced to stop shipping food to the Horn of Africa and instead has to use unsurfaced roads through northern Kenya, raising the costs and threatening the survival of half-a-million people in drought-stricken southern Somalia.
Experts fear raiders are striking increasingly further from the coastline — one attack last year was 624km off the Somali coast — potentially threatening the heavy shipping traffic passing through the Suez Canal and Red Sea to the north of Somalia and the Indian Ocean beyond.
Ransom demand
The Semlow was attacked as it sailed 304km off the Somali coast last June. The pirates demanded a ransom of $500 000 from its Kenyan shipping agents, threatening to beach the vessel if it was not paid.
After the crew’s supplies ran out, they began eating the rice from the hold, supplemented by occasional handouts of meat, sugar and vegetables from their captors.
After the initial raid, the crew were fired upon only once — when the chief engineer turned off the lights to conserve fuel.
”That’s when they fired on the bridge. They were afraid that it would be unsafe after dark and they would be attacked by other Somalis,” said Mvita, a father of three from Tanzania. ”I was very scared, like any other human being would be. I just gave up and thought God had decided my fate.”
While in command of the ship, the pirates used it for two further attacks: the first an unsuccessful attempt to intercept a car freighter, and the second a successful raid on the Ibn Battuta, a ship carrying cement.
”We were almost on a collision course,” Mvita said. ”The pirates were towing their boats at our stern, and when they got close they told us to stop. The Ibn Battuta thought we were friendly. The two [pirate] boats were each carrying four men with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and the Ibn Battuta only saw them when they were already at her side.”
The pirates confiscated the Semlow crew’s radios, and stole personal possessions, including cash, shoes and cellphones. The crew got used to being robbed every time there was a change of guard.
”They even stole some spanners from the engine room,” Mvita said.
The ship was released in October, when its Kenyan shipping agents, Motaku, paid an undisclosed ransom. The agents, who were handling aid shipments for the UN’s World Food Programme, have been badly affected by piracy.
After the Semlow was freed, a second ship, the MV Torgelow, was hijacked while carrying supplies for the Semlow‘s crew. A third ship carrying food aid, the MV Miltzow, was also attacked and briefly held by a pirate gang.
”We were confident that because we were carrying a relief cargo for their own country we would not be harassed,” said Karim Kudrati, Motaku’s MD.
Somalia has been without an effective government for 15 years, languishing in the grip of warring clans who have turned to piracy as a way of raising money.
Cruise ship
One of the boldest attacks was on the Seabourn Spirit, a cruise ship carrying more than 100 Western tourists, which was approached by two boats carrying men firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. The Seabourn crew used a weapon that directs earsplitting noise at attackers and repelled them.
Pirate attacks worldwide declined slightly last year compared with 2004, but in trouble spots, such as the coastal waters of Indonesia, shipping remains vulnerable to attacks by armed gangs.
The Semlow‘s shipping agents say that only intervention by Western navies can prevent further pirate attacks. Naval ships from a number of countries, including the United States, Britain, Italy and Germany, patrol the Horn of Africa.
”Up until 2004 we were regularly stopped by navy ships who used to come on board,” Kudrati said. ”But this stopped happening from about January 2005. I think that created a vacuum which allowed this to happen.” — Guardian Unlimited Â