Global Arab Network | Somalia - Residents and sandbank stymie pirates' plan

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Somalia - Residents and sandbank stymie pirates' plan

Thursday, 19 November 2009 20:42

Residents of a coastal town in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland saved the crew of a fishing boat when they foiled an attempt by pirates, who had captured the boat, to sail away.

The pirates had commandeered the boat off the Somali coast on 1 November and sailed it to the town of Eil in Puntland, northeastern Somalia. However, the boat, manned by nine Indians and Bangladeshis, hit a sandbank and ran aground in Eil, prompting the inhabitants to demand the mariners’ release.

“I think when they realized they where all Bengalis and Indians they decided to use the boat to hunt other ships and use the crew to run it," Abdirahman Hassan Koronto, a businessman in Eil, said.

He said the pirates tried to get the boat back in the high seas but residents stopped them. The pirates resisted for about five days but finally surrendered the crew, Koronto added.

"This is one case were their plan did not work out the way they wanted," said Koronto.

“If they went back to sea they were going to use them [the crew] so we decided that we would not let them harm these poor people," said Asha Abdikarim, a resident.

The residents asked the Puntland authorities to send forces to help them keep the boat, she told IRIN.

“I think when they saw the whole town - women, men and children - were out and confronting them, they thought better of it and released the crew to us," said Abdikarim. "For once we showed them that they cannot do their ugly deeds in our town."

She said residents of coastal towns were fed up with pirates. "No one wants them here," she said.

Elders took the nine crewmen to a hotel in town where they stayed until Puntland forces arrived.

Abdimahdi Abshir, the director of administration of the Puntland presidency, told IRIN the boat and crew were now in the hands of the authorities.

"The boat is being repaired and will be brought to Bosasso," he said, adding that the crew had been taken to Garowe, the Puntland capital, where they were under the care of the administration.

"They are doing well and we are trying to arrange for them to be sent home,” he said.

Abshir said the authorities had asked humanitarian agencies to help repatriate the seamen.

Phuban Das, a member of the boat's crew, told IRIN they were in Garowe and safe.

"We are free and here," he said. (IRIN)

Global Arab Network

Photo: K.Mckinsey/UNHCR

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