EXPRESSING solidarity with the seafarers and their families, the shipping community has slammed Somali pirates for not setting free all the Indian crew members of a hijacked merchant vessel released recently despite being paid the ransom money.
The organizations that voiced their disapproval were: International Chamber of Shipping, ITF Seafarers, Indian National Ship owners' Association, National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), InterManager, Intertanko, and Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), among others.
It may be recalled that m.v. Asphalt Venture was hijacked by Somali pirates on September 28, 2010. Though the vessel was released on payment of ransom a few days back, nearly half the crew was held back as bargaining chips by the buccaneers for release of their captured colleagues.
The NUSI General Secretary, Mr. Abdulgani Y. Serang, said, "Despite the owners’ concluding a dialogue with the pirates for the full release of 15 crew and vessel on payment of ransom, the vessel was released after seven crew members were taken off the tanker and made to accompany the pirates ashore".
According to Mr. Serang, the pirates took the decision not to honour the pact and instead prolong the hostage ordeal of the seven seafarers in retaliation to the arrest of Somali pirates by the Indian Navy in recent weeks.
The NUSI official stressed that this was a fundamental change from the previous practice and altered the issue from being just between the shipowners and pirates to being between the pirates and a government.
"It is a major shift in the pirate-hostage equation which will need to be considered and addressed by the international community," Mr Serang emphasised.
"'The international and national representative organisations are gravely concerned with this new development as international governments continue to fail to adequately respond to this 21st century example of organised and violent criminality," he observed.
Source : Exim News Service - Mumbai, April 20