Part 3: Ship on fire, hostage sailors nearly burned alive
(Baonghean) After 8 months of drifting at sea, the captain and 25 hostage sailors had to endure extremely harsh moments, having to eat stale rice and not being able to bathe or wash. On the endless journey, before running aground on a reef, the ill-fated ship caught fire, nearly burning the entire crew alive. -->> See Part 2: Pirates pay the price 240 days drifting
240 days drifting
“Being imprisoned in a 4m2 room all day, every move of the hostages was under the control of the pirates, it was extremely tense and cramped!”, said Nguyen Van Hai (born in 1992), one of the 25 sailors on the captured ship. Hai is from Quynh Long commune, Quynh Luu district, from the day he left the port to the day he fell into the hands of the pirates, he had been a sailor for exactly 1 year.
His father was old and weak, unable to work. His mother suffered from mental illness and had been treated everywhere but to no avail. In the family, there was also a younger brother with a mental illness, who, when he had an attack, would chase the neighbors with a knife and destroy things, making the poor family even more exhausted. Going abroad this time, Hai hoped to earn some money to send back to treat his mother and younger brother, but his unfortunate fate placed a heavy burden on the young sailor's shoulders. "I kept thinking that I had no chance of returning alive," Hai shuddered.
Playing cards and Chinese chess got boring, and groups of hostage sailors had nothing to do but sit and tell each other funny stories and love stories to kill time. Their smiles suddenly turned bitter when they remembered their girlfriends' tearful faces on the day they were sent off to sea and their vows of waiting. "In a drifting fisherman's life, in this situation, no one can wait. My lover will get married!", Hai said bitterly.
Bowls of rice were brought. At first, when there was still meat, fish and vegetables on board, the hostage sailors had a little more meat and vegetables for each meal. But then the food supplies gradually ran out, and at mealtimes there were only bowls of rice and watery soup. When all the food was gone, they had to eat only white rice. White rice in the true sense of the word because it was just rice, no salt, no fish sauce, no food, no vegetables. But when the white rice on the ship was gone, the Somali pirates brought stale rice. “The rice grains were black, moldy, smelled very bad and had a lot of grit, we couldn’t swallow them, but we still had to try to chew them to survive, to get through the day!”, Nguyen Van Hai said.
To improve their meals, the pirates let the hostages go fishing on the deck. “There are a lot of fish in this sea, fishing for a few dozen minutes can catch fish weighing 10-20kg!”, sailor Ho Xuan Huong, residing in Quynh Long commune, Quynh Luu district, said. But the pirates live in harsh conditions, have erratic temperaments, and can get angry, suddenly venting their anger on the hostages without any reason. After fishing for a while, they used the butt of their guns to herd the hostages down to the hold, lock them in a room and lock the door.
After 8 months of drifting at sea, under the threat of Somali pirates, the sailors on the Shiuh Fu No1 were barely allowed to bathe or wash. Lying in one place under the scorching sun and exposed to the salty seawater, the sailors' skin began to crack and peel. Many had ringworm all over their bodies, itching and feeling uncomfortable, but there was still no cure. "We didn't bathe for months, it was extremely stuffy, everyone's body smelled bad!", Luu Dinh Hung (Nghi Tien, Nghi Loc) said. It was only when some hostages protested that the sailors on the Shiuh Fu No1 were allowed to bathe or wash. Fresh water was scarce, only for drinking and cooking, they had to bathe in salt water, brushing their teeth and washing their faces in the morning was also done in salt water.
Ship fire, hostage almost burned alive
“I was angry and resentful, but no one dared to act rashly because the Somali pirates were so cruel and ruthless, and they were armed to the teeth, with guns all over them!”, said Luu Dinh Hung. Once, when the ship rolled over the anchor, a commander was caught in a rope, his leg pressed against the ship’s side. The accident caused the perpetrator to dislocate his kneecap and lose a piece of skin on his left leg.
“The pirates seem to only know how to pirate, they don’t know how to do anything else!”, said a sailor. They are rude, every time they need to order the hostages to do something, they use their hands to signal, and if they don’t want to, they immediately start beating them up. They are completely clueless about operating, using the power source and auxiliary equipment on the ship, and this is what led to the disaster of the fire on the Shiuh Fu No. 1, almost burning all the hostage sailors alive.
“There wasn’t much cooking oil on the ship, but every time they cooked, the pirates still filled the pan with oil, and one time, carelessly, the gas stove caught fire in the pan, causing a fire!” sailor Nguyen Van Hai said. The fire broke out in the stove, quickly spread to neighboring rooms, and burned down to the engine room. Smoke billowed. The pirate leader panicked, rushed to the deck, and used the radio to call his accomplices’ ship to evacuate their people. The Somali pirates were ready to abandon the burning ship, abandon the hostages trapped in the hold, and evacuate them to the rescue ship.
The fire covered a large area, causing Shiuh Fu No.1 to become a living torch in the middle of the ocean, with the danger of all the hostage sailors being burned to death. At that moment, the captain mobilized the sailors to start the water pumps to put out the fire. He ran to turn off the circuit breaker to prevent the fire from spreading throughout the ship. After nearly an hour of fighting the fire, the fire on Shiuh Fu No.1 was finally brought under control. The captain and 25 sailors escaped.
The fire was extinguished, the Somali pirates ran to the rescue ship, after observing that the danger was over, they started the engine and returned to the Shiuh Fu No. 1. “They were grinning, shaking hands with each person, saying thank you!”, sailor Hung said. After 8 months of holding and beating hostages, the pirates, who had always had murderous looks on their faces, suddenly became “polite”. They were friendly one day, but the next day, they were holding the hostages by the neck and beating them.
The huge fire severely damaged the Shiuh Fu No.1, the hostage ship limped towards the mainland. “With no food, no drinking water, and damaged by the fire, the Shiuh Fu No.1 seemed exhausted, it needed rest and maintenance before it could continue its journey to sea to capture cargo ships,” sailor Nguyen Van Hai said. The leader ordered the ship to land, the ship sailed for a few days and then had to stop due to technical problems. The old anchor was damaged, the pirates used a welding machine to make another anchor, but the new product was not safe when the ship needed to stop. With strong winds and waves, the anchor was lifted off the ground, causing the Shiuh Fu No.1 to drift at sea.
Nearing the mainland, in order to stop the ship, one of the pirates foolishly came up with the idea of steering the ship into a reef to anchor. They thought that the anchor would plow underground, and when it encountered a rock, it would stop, thereby stopping the ship safely. However, this “initiative” of the Somali pirates quickly turned the Shiuh Fu No. 1 into a pile of scrap.
“It was very dangerous to approach the reef at night, but the pirates still calmly dropped anchor, turned off the lights and went to sleep. The manual anchor could not grip the reef and slipped, causing the Shiuh Fu No.1 to be immediately washed ashore by the waves and lay dead on the sand,” sailor Tran Minh Tri said. From that moment on, the Shiuh Fu No.1 ended its ill-fated journey, turning into a giant pile of scrap metal, lying alone in the waters of Somali pirates…
3 white nights horror
Among the 12 Vietnamese crew members on the fishing boat Shiuh Fu No1 (Taiwan) kidnapped by Somali pirates, Luu Dinh Son (born in 1991, from Thach Tien village, Thach Ngan commune, Con Cuong district) is a special case - believed to have been murdered by pirates.
“It was one evening, I was sitting with everyone when the robbers came in and told me to follow them with two other sailors. They put guns behind our backs and urged us to go. Honestly, at that time I was no longer worried, but terrified. I thought, I am dead, the robbers took me to be shot and killed,” Son shuddered. Luu Dinh Son and his two colleagues were taken to a goat pen, locked inside, beaten and threatened to kill.
For 3 days and 3 nights, Son was kept in a smelly, dirty animal pen, thinking and crying. He could not sleep and did not dare to sleep. He held a bowl of rice in his mouth, but his mouth was bitter and he could not swallow. “I did not know when I could die, it was like lying on the barrel of a gun, just one more pull of the trigger. I kept thinking, if I die now, with no relatives or friends around, dying in a faraway land, on a deserted island, I feel very scared,” Son said.
Luu Dinh Son and his mother. Photo: HO LAI
Every passing moment was filled with anxiety and worry. Luu Dinh Son could only entrust his life to the pirates, because if he escaped, he would die, die from getting lost, starve, die of thirst… During the days on land, the brothers were forced to work as slaves, were fed and drank miserably, imprisoned, and beaten. Many times he thought that it would be better to die. “But when facing death, everyone wants to live,” Son said.
After 3 days of isolation and detention, the robbers brought the hostages back. When they were released, Son cried out of joy but was still afraid that they had been tricked. When he arrived, he came back to his senses. Several sailors from Nghe An hugged each other and cried.
In his hometown, someone read online that Luu Dinh Son was shot dead by pirates. The whole village was so shocked that it reached Son's family, making the family feel like they were in mourning. Having lost all hope, thinking that their son had died, his parents planned to set up an altar for Son. But when they called Hai Thanh Company Limited (Nghi Loc, Nghe An), the place that took Son away before, the company representative confirmed that there was no official information. "Son is not dead, everyone can rest assured, don't set up an altar for him!", the company representative said. At that time, his family was still in a state of panic, half believing, half doubting, but no one could think of anything more when news of their son disappeared.
Chairman of Quynh Long Commune (Quynh Luu) Tran Quang Ve said: "To share with the sailors in distress, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune visited and encouraged the families of the victims, supporting each person with 500,000 VND". Tien Phong newspaper supported sailor Luu Dinh Hung (Nghi Tien Commune, Nghi Loc District) with 2 million VND.
Quang Long - Ho Lai
