Tigers forced crew from ship, says captain

Colombo: The captain of a Jordanian ship whose vessel was seized by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said yesterday the guerrillas fired shots as they boarded and ordered the crew to leave the ship.

"They boarded the ship armed and fired a total of four shots to force us to board their boats," the Iraqi captain of the ship, Ramaz S. Abdul Jabbar, told a news conference.

Three of the crew were hurt when they jumped onto the rebel boats, he said.

On Monday, the crew was brought to the Sri Lankan capital by the International Committee of the Red Cross from the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, where they were taken by the insurgents after being removed from the ship.

The ship, Farha-3, was carrying 14,000 tons of Indian rice bound for South Africa when it drifted into rebel waters on Saturday and was boarded by the rebels.

The rebels earlier said they boarded the ship to inspect it and rescued the crew with no intent to harm them.

Refuelling

The ship left the Indian port of Kakinada on December 15 and was bound for Colombo for refuelling and reloading of supplies en route to South Africa. It developed engine trouble, and Abdul Jabbar said he informed maritime authorities and waited for help.

"Our engineers were also trying to fix the problem," he said.

The rebels approached the ship in six boats at about 3.30am on Saturday, Abdul Jabbar said.

"Soon after, the men, some of them wearing military-like uniforms, boarded the ship and made inquiries," Abdul Jabbar said.

The rebels attempted to trigger explosives to destroy the ship's anchor, he said. "When they failed, they forced us to lift our anchor and then ordered us to leave the ship and board their boats."