‘It was truly like being born again. We had given up hope and suddenly we were brought back to life.’ These were the words of a crew member of the MV Iceberg when released from 33 months of captivity in the hands of pirates off the Somali coast. It was 23 December 2012 – the crew member’s birthday – and followed a two-week siege by the local maritime police.
The crew’s imprisonment aboard their hijacked ship was as traumatic as their eventual rescue. One of the initial crew of 24 is reported to have killed himself and another is missing – thought to have tried to swim ashore. The rest of the crew were tied up and beaten daily. The chief engineer was singled out for even worse treatment. He had his ear slashed, was kept in solitary confinement for a year and was almost suffocated with plastic bags.
