Kidnapped by pirates, Gorakhpur seafarer recalls horror

Kidnapped by pirates, Gorakhpur seafarer recalls horror
Arjumand Bano | Jan 3, 2020 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/kidnapped-by-pirates-s...

GORAKHPUR: A seafarer from Gorakhpur, who is now back to his hometown, recalled how he was kidnapped by pirates along with 18 Indian crew members on December 3 when his ship was returning from Nigeria.

Ramsundar Chauhan, a resident of Harpur Budhat of Gorakhpur district is a fitter at Anglo Eastern ship management company in Mumbai and has been seafarer since 2007. “On December 3, after loading crude oil, we set on our return journey from Nigeria to Orissa. Our captain asked the director of the harbour for security arrangement but the director said it would only be made available when the ship reaches pirate-affected zone. After four hours around 7.30 pm, the captain announced that the ship had been hijacked. I saw nine pirates on the deck, laced with hi-tech arms,” Ramsundar Chauhan said.

“They caught hold of us, thrashed us, and sent us to the boat with the help of a rope. When the boat was full, pirates left five people on the ship. The boat sailed all night after which were made to walk for around two hours in a dense forest to a place where there were more armed pirates. They kept on changing our place,” he added. He said he did not sleep for 8 nights due to fear. “We were given raw noodles to eat on some days, while on other days, we managed without food,” he said.