A group of 22 South Asian and Egyptian men held captive by Somali pirates for nearly a year received an emotional welcome in Karachi on Thursday. Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad was also present to welcome the hostages, who were released after a payment of $2.1 million ransom. Relatives burst into tears as they greeted the freed merchant navy personnel from the MV Suez ship.
Onlookers showered them with rose petals. The crew included 11 Egyptians, six Indians, four Pakistanis and one Sri Lankan. The captain of the ship was Wasi Ahmed, a Pakistani whose 11-year-old daughter, Laila, hugged him eagerly as both wept.
“The support of the whole nation helped us,” the captain said. The other three Pakistanis are Engineer Syed Alam, Chief Officer Ali Rehman and diesel mechanic Muzzamil. The Ansar Burney Trust, aided by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, handled negotiations with the pirates who demanded $30 million at one point. The ransom money was raised through private donations from Pakistanis and paid through a shipping company whose name is being kept confidential. “We spent the last 10 months in a hell. The pirates trapped us in Somalia in August last year and since then they would keep us like animals,” Syed Alam, 40, told AFP. “
They would keep us chained on the boat, give us rubbish food and beat us every now and then,” he added. Laila Wasi, 11, daughter of Wasi Ahmed, burst into tears when she met her father. “I am proud to be the daughter of a brave man. He showed immense courage to live in the difficult circumstances and in the end he made it possible to remain alive and also ensure his crew’s safety,” she told reporters.
