ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Fifteen Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea last month returned to Turkey on Sunday and the ship’s captain described how they faced death threats and found themselves in a forest during their three-week ordeal. detained.
The sailors hugged family members as they arrived at Istanbul Airport before sunrise, where they were greeted by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other officials two days after news of their release in Nigeria became known.
“We were in a forest. There were harsh conditions. There were constantly armed men at our side.” Mustafa Kaya, captain of the ship “Mozart” from which the crew was kidnapped, was quoted by the Demiroren news agency.
The Liberian-flagged container ship was on its way to Cape Town from Lagos when it was attacked on Jan. 23, 160 km (100 miles) from the island of Sao Tome, maritime reports showed. An Azerbaijani sailor was killed in what the crew described as a sophisticated and well-orchestrated attack.
“We didn’t experience any physical violence, but they applied psychological pressure during the negotiations. They said ‘we will kill you if your company doesn’t do what we want’,” said Kaya.
Kaya said the crew had locked themselves in a secure room at the time of their kidnapping, but the pirates had come in after a five-hour battle.
“They constantly opened fire and shot in randomly. At that point, one of our colleagues died. He was shot in the abdomen. We are very sad,” he said.
The crew was eventually taken by boat and released at a safe place designated by the company. Their release came two weeks after the attackers reached out to discuss a ransom.
After their release, Levent Karsan of Istanbul-based Boden Shipping had said the sailors were all in good health and that it was not a political kidnapping, but solely aimed at obtaining a ransom, with talks being handled by a team in Hamburg.
(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Michael Perry)