Untold stories of two thousand days in the hands of pirates

(Baonghean) - Exactly 4 years and 7 months after being captured by Somali pirates and held for ransom while working on a ship in the Indian Ocean, Mr. Phuong was able to return home and reunite with his family. During the long period of losing contact, many relatives and neighbors said that no one thought Phuong was still alive...

In April 2011, like many young people in the area, Phuong went to Taiwan to work with the dream of earning a lot of money to support his family and get married. Phuong then worked on the FV Namham 3 with a salary of nearly 7 million VND/month.

Drifting all day at sea, more than a year away from home, Phuong was only able to call his family 3 times.

In May 2012, the family was shocked when they received a call from Phuong informing them that she had been captured by pirates and that a large ransom was demanded. After that call, Ms. Hoa and her husband did not receive any news about Phuong.

After exactly 4 years and 7 months, Mr. Phuong and two other crew members were suddenly released and returned home to the loving arms of family, friends, and neighbors.

Phan Xuan Phuong (middle) returned to the arms of relatives and neighbors.

After the great shock, Mrs. Hoa (Mr. Phuong's mother) fell ill and could not walk on her own.

When recalling those days, Phuong still cannot help but shiver and feel scared.

He said that on March 26, 2012, the FV Naham 3 was fishing in the Indian Ocean, near Seychelles, an African country. While 29 people were working, suddenly bullets were fired at the side of the ship, all the crew members could only lie down.

The captain was shot dead. The pirates then boarded the ship, tied up and blindfolded each crew member, locked them in a corner, and then steered the ship forward. The world-famous Somali pirates classified crew members by nationality.

Phuong was imprisoned with two crew members from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Van Ha and Nguyen Van Xuan (both 35 years old). In addition to the three Vietnamese crew members, the FV Naham 3 at that time also had crew members from China, Cambodia, the Philippines, etc.

“They rarely beat us, they only threaten us. We don’t have to do hard labor, but we are closely watched. Every robber has a gun and watches us 24/7, so no one dares to think about running away,” Phuong said.

After taking complete control of the hostages, the pirates steered the ship into the waters considered their “territory”. 8 months after being captured, the ship broke anchor and drifted into the desert, from which everyone went ashore and lived there until the day of release.

Although he was rarely beaten, the living conditions were harsh, and there was no medicine to treat his illnesses. Phuong said that place was “hell on earth”; after being released, every time he thought about it, he shuddered.

Many neighbors left their farm work to come share the joy with Phuong's family.

During their captivity, the pirates only gave the hostages 1 liter of water per person per day. For each meal, they were only given a bowl of rice, the rest of the food was mainly bread. If hungry, the crew had to find food to cook under the close supervision of the pirates.

In addition to the captain who was shot dead, two of the remaining 28 people also died of incurable diseases after only about a year of detention.

Coming from many different countries, during their long detention, the crew members communicated with each other using “body language” and a little English. “The detained brothers often encouraged each other to live. There were also times of despair, thinking that they could not survive and return home, just wanting to die quickly, but with the encouragement of their brothers and thinking of their families at home, at that time everyone tried to live” - Phuong said.

Life went on like that until one day in late October 2016, when the crew were preparing to have dinner, a robber came to announce that they were being released. Phuong said that he and the other crew members did not know why they were being released.

After telling the sad story, when talking about his future plans, Phuong said he wanted to rest for a while to regain his strength. During the days living in the desert, the difficult conditions made Phuong lose nearly 10 kg, his face was dark.

“After I regained my health, I stayed home to help my parents with the farming. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. For many years, because of me, my mother got sick, and the burden of the family also fell on my father’s old shoulders. I wanted to stay home and work on the farm or find some kind of job here to take care of them,” Phuong said.

Tien Hung