Ahmedabad/New Delhi, March 30
Around 100 Indian sailors have been captured and seven dhows seized by pirates off Somalia’s coast, a shipping association said today. “Around Saturday afternoon, we got information that seven of our vessels have been hijacked by Somalian pirates in the mid-sea,” Kutch Vahanvati Association (KVA) president Kasam Ali Bholim said.

“Around 100 crew members of these vessels have been captured. We have already approached the port authorities and the Director-General, Shipping, in this regard,” he said.

“They are trying to locate the ships and make contact with the pirates. But nothing has materialised till now,” the head of the 140-member KVA said.

“We have lost all communication with the vessel crew. Neither have the pirates made contact with us. We are just waiting for information about the vessels,” he said.

Bholim said five vessels were from Kutch, while two were from Porbander and Veraval. He feared there could be more vessels hijacked by the pirates.

According to the Naval headquarters in Delhi, the abduction of the sailors took place at high seas off the Somalia coast in the Gulf of Aden a week ago.

“The Director-General, Shipping, this evening confirmed the pirate attack on these dhows on the basis of information received from a dhow that was apparently let off by Somali pirates after initially holding it captive for a couple of days,” a Navy officer said.

The dhows that were hijacked by the Somali pirates were identified as MSVs AL Kadri, Al Izaj, Faize Osmani, Sea Queen, Nar Narayan, Krishna Hyot, Vishwa Kalyan and AKPCT.

“Though these were the names given by the office of the Director-General, Shipping, some of them needed to be confirmed. A notice has been issued by the DG Shipping’s office to the Federation of All-Indian Sailing Vessels based at Jamnagar in Gujarat,” the officer said.

The hijackings came to light after a dhow, identified as MSV Arzoo, which was freed by the pirates after holding it captive for a couple of days, sailed into Seychelles waters, anchored there and informed the Indian authorities about the abductions, the officer said.

Arzoo was asked to flee the Gulf of Aden after its engines broke down and the pirates apparently did not find it suitable to be used as a mother ship by them, he said.

Owner of MS Narnarayan vessel Dhiraj Thakkar said he was waiting for the government to take some action. “We got information (of the capture) from one of the ships that was able to contact its owner before being captured,” Thakkar said. — PTI