Captivity was like hell, says Stolt Valor crew member

Muscat: The crew of MV Stolt Valor, held hostage at high seas for over two months, looked relieved as they stepped on land in Muscat on Sunday night but all sailors were unanimous that it would take a long time to forget the agony and trauma that they had to endure at the hands of ruthless Somalian pirates.

"We went through hell," the youngest member of the crew, Santosh Patil, told Gulf News after arriving at the Ruwi Novotel before flying out to Mumbai. Indian sailors were expected to reach home on Monday.

Relating the horror days on board during 64-day captivity, 20-year-old Patil said that they didn't have sufficient food and water.

"We had to be careful in using our food supplies as there was no outside supply and at the same time the pirates were also eating our food," he said, adding that they lost all their belongings, including shopping done for family members.

This was Patil's first voyage after joining the shipping industry and despite the horrifying experience, the young sailor from Mumbai looks forward to sail again.

"This was my first trip that started in January this year," said Patil, who said he would like people not to view this profession as risky from this one incident. "There's risk everywhere," he said.

He also added that within a couple of months he would want to sail again but would consider family consent. "Our families suffered the most during this saga," he said.

While Patil is open to sail again, the senior most sailor among the 22 is not sure he will sail again.

"I don't think I will sail again ever," said 58-year-old Filipino third Officer Ernesto Cuartero.

He said that he was relieved and happy being free from that agonising ordeal but requested concerned authorities to do something to end similar fate of other Filipinos.

"There are 157 Filipinos sailors held hostage by Somalian pirates," he said, adding that he hopesthey are freed soon.

Ullas Krishna was on the bridge when pirates attacked MV Stolt Valor and captured the tanker carrying chemical to Kandla port in India.

"They started firing indiscreetly at our ship," the 22-year-old marine from India's southern state of Kerala recalled.

Since the captain of the ship Prabhat Kumar Goyal and Russian Chief Engineer Nikolie were still onboard to hand over the charge of the ship to the new crew to take it to Kandla from here, Ullas was the senior most ranked officer to come on land.

"It was the worst possible ordeal and if anyone thinks that the freed sailors are happy or excited then they are wrong," he told Gulf News.

Jagmohan Acharya, who has been sailing for 34 years, talked about the agony his family went through.

"When I called my wife for the first time, she kept crying for almost 30 minutes without saying anything on phone," he said, voice choking and eyes moist.

Captain Anshul Rajvanshi, of Fleet Management, said that all the crew were in good condition and there was no significant damage to the tanker.

Every sailor said although they were not subjected to physical harm, the mental torture they endured was worse.

All that was forgotten, albeit for a while, as a local musical group, belted out Bollywood songs for the sailors at a special late night reception hosted hurriedly by the Indian ambassador to Oman, Anil Wadhwa at his residence.

Fast facts

MV Stolt Valor, carrying chemical cargo from US to India, was hijacked on September 15 and was released after two months and payment of a reported ransom of $2.5 million.

The Japanese-owned and Hong Kong flagged ship had 22 sailors on board, including 18 Indians, two Filipinos, a Bangladeshi and a Russian.

The ship sailed to Oman last Saturday and anchored off Port Sultan Qaboos.

The freed sailors flew out off Muscat to their respective countries.