CAIRO: Days after 34 Egyptian fishermen overpowered their Somali pirates captors, versions of their escape differ, with one indicating that coordination efforts with other Somali tribes helped set the Egyptians free.
Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Rizq clarified in a statement that the crews from both ships have safely entered the Red Sea waters on their way home with all 34 fishermen on board, along with eight Somali pirates.
Efforts to release the group via negotiations stalled Thursday, with the boats’ owner offering $200,000 and the pirates demanding $1.5 million.
According to the initial version of the story, the crewmen of the two vessels, Mumtaaz One and Ahmed Samarra, secured their freedom in a chaotic 15-minute battle with their Somali captors.
The fisherman initially welded machetes and metal bars to fight their captors. They then captured the pirates’ automatic weapons and turned them on their captors, in a desperate effort to win their freedom off the Horn of Africa.
Mohamed El-Nahas, a relative of one of the kidnapped fisherman, said the effort was no spontaneous revolt but had been coordinated between the two boats.
“There are two scenarios concerning the freeing of these 34 fishermen: the first is that the Egyptian intelligence had intervened in an indirect way through some Somali groups. But the more likely one is that the owner of the two vessels, Sheikh Hassan Khalil, hired some militia or armed groups in Somalia as he had been there for 21 days making provisions, he said.
Under this scenario, a group disguised as Somali pirates arrived to deliver the latest news from ashore when a pre-designated signal was given for the prisoners to revolt. These pseudo-pirates, armed with automatic weapons, joined in the battle on the side of the Egyptians.
Independent media sources confirmed that a group of armed Somalis had assisted the fishermen.
While no Egyptians were hurt in the melee, the number of casualties amongst the Somali pirates remains unclear. One of the pirates that escaped claimed to have seen two dead comrades before diving overboard. According to Al-Jazeera the bodies of seven pirates with gunshot wounds have washed up on Somali coasts.
The Egyptians captured eight of their former captors and secured them in the hold before setting sail for Yemen to confer with the Egyptian embassy. El-Nahas stated that Egyptian authorities in Yemen had suggested that the pirates be turned over to Yemeni authorities and the crews be flown to Cairo.
The proud crewman refused this offer preferring to sail home as triumphant heroes and set a course for Egyptian waters.
El-Nahas, who has been in contact with the freed crews wrote, “The Egyptian fishermen are supposed to reach Yatka port in Suez before heading home to their cities in the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh on Thursday at maximum, he told Daily News Egypt.
Somali pirates have held the Egyptian vessels since mid-April. When the pirates first captured the vessels, Egyptian officials suggested that the vessels were illegally poaching fish from Somalia’s coast. Later reports refuted such claims.
Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991. Ransoms started in tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into millions. Piracy is estimated to have cost the world an estimated $60-70 million in 2008
Despite the deployment of an international taskforce of warships to international waters off the coasts of Somalia, attacks against commercial shipping have risen sharply in 2009. An estimated total of 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia s northern coast. Currently Somali pirates hold 10 ships awaiting ransom.
