Pirates attack Navy Vessel, MV Suez again

New Delhi, Jun 15: In a major twist, the abandoned Navy vessel MV Suez, that was released by Somali pirates on Monday, Jun 13, was attacked again by pirates on Wednesday, Jun 15 reported a crew member.

The six Indian sailors who are set out to come back home after spending ten months being held hostage by Somali pirates in Gulf of Aden were released after paying a huge ransom by Ansar Burney, a Pakistani human rights activist. According to the crew members, they were attacked by another troop of pirates, but this time they were successful to fight them back.

"The Indian Navy had earlier assured us they are tracking us and will help within five minutes. But, after the attack today, no one came to help - no chopper, no plane came," said Ravinder Singh, the Captain of the ship.

The sailors are on their way now and are expected to reach Oman in few days.

Meanwhile Abdul Mathar, the owner of the ship told the media that it took long for them to establish contact with the crew on the ship. He also thanked Ansar Burney, the Pakistani human rights activist for his efforts and said that it was him who negotiated with the pirates and brought down the amount to $2 million.

Replying whether India helped them in the ordeal, Mathar said that they had contacted the Indian Ambassador in Cairo and hoped for help, but nothing was done so far.

He also said that the ship has headed to Salalah, Oman and from there it will head to Egypt adding the Indian crew members would be flown back to the country safely.

Somali pirates had released the hijacked MV Suez on Monday Jun 13. The 22 people who were freed by the hijackers included Indians from Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, one each from J&K, Himachal and two Indians, four from Pakistan, eleven from Egypt and one from Sri Lanka.

Sampa Arya, wife of an Indian Sailor on the ship had pleaded to the government that a Indian Navy ship be sent to rescue the members on board.

Pakistan and India was supposed to raise $500,000 and $60,000 respectively, whereas the Egyptian shipping company was supposed to give $1million. Despite of setting a deadline, India failed to fulfill its promise.

OneIndia News