Seven Bangladeshi sailors, who were abducted by the Somali pirates, eventually reached home Thursday after three and a half years of captivity.
The fortunate crew members arrived in Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital by an Emirates Airlines flight at about 8:40am and they were received by Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam.
A total of 23 crews, including seven Bangladeshis, of the MV Albedo remained untraced since November 26, 2010 when Somali pirates hijacked the Malaysian flagged vessel on its way to South Africa from Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
After years of persuasion by the government and relevant international organisations like the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP), the Bangladeshis were released alive by the abductors on June 6 last.
After their release, the seven sailors were taken with the assistance of MPHRP to Nairobi in Kenya, where the Bangladesh High Commission arranged their travel documents and took care of them.
Four of the sailors are Golam Mostafa, son of Sheikh Md Hossain; Habibur Rahman, son of Iman Ali Sardar; Nurul Haque, son of late Sobhan Sardar; and Abul Kashem, son of Abdur Rouf. All of them hail from Satkhira district.
Aminul Islam, son of Abul Kalam; and Zakir Hossain Rajib, son of Nazrul Islam, are from Chittagong while Limon Sarkar, son of Abdul Wali Ullah, hails from Chandpur.
The returnees broke down minutes after reaching the HSIA and gave a vivid description of the horrible moments they had passed during 1288 days of their captivity.
Talking to reporters, Abul Kashem said they were often mentally and physically tortured by the pirates and in most cases they received food only once a day.
"I never thought that I would return home alive. It was horrible," he said in tears.
Zakir Hossain said the pirates demanded ransom from their relatives over phone. If ransom was not given, the pirates threatened us with dire consequences, he said.
He said one of their Indian colleagues, who hails from Kolkata, were tortured to death by the pirates.
"And we kept his body for more than one year in the deep fridge of the ship so that his family can get back the body. But we had to leave the body in the Blue Sea because of the bad odour," he added.
When asked about the issue of ransom, the returnees just kept mum for a while and said they knew nothing about it.
Chirag Bahri, regional director of the MPHRP, said the returnees have broken down mentally.
"Some medical tests and follow-ups will be carried out in the coming days and after their complete recovery, they will decide whether they would return to ship or not," he said.
The seven freed sailors were then taken to the Marino residential hotel in Uttara where they met their families after a long wait.
