ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Fifteen Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates last month in the Gulf of Guinea returned to Turkey on Sunday and the ship’s captain described how they faced death threats and were kept in a forest during their three-week ordeal.
The sailors hugged relatives when they arrived at Istanbul airport before dawn, where they were met by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other officials, two days after news of his release in Nigeria.
“We were in a forest. Conditions were difficult. There were constantly armed men at our side,” Mustafa Kaya, captain of the ship “Mozart” from which the crew was hijacked, told the Demiroren news agency.
The Liberian-flagged container ship was heading for Cape Town from Lagos when it was attacked on 23 January, 160 km (100 miles) from São Tomé island, according to maritime reports. An Azeri sailor was killed in what the crew described as a sophisticated and well-orchestrated attack.
“We did not suffer physical violence, but they exerted psychological pressure during the negotiations. They said, ‘We will kill you if your company does not do what we want,'” said Kaya.
Kaya said that at the time of the hijacking, the crew locked themselves in a safe room, but that the pirates invaded the scene after a five-hour fight.
“They were constantly opening fire, shooting randomly inside. At that time one of our colleagues died. He was shot in the stomach. We are very sad, ”he said.
The crew was finally taken by boat and released to a safe location specified by the company. The release came two weeks after the attackers made contact to discuss a rescue.
After his release, Levent Karsan, of Istanbul-based Boden Shipping, said the sailors were all in good health and that it was not a political hijacking, but only with the aim of obtaining a ransom, with negotiations conducted by a team based on Hamburg.
(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Michael Perry)