It is the season of hope, faith and peace. A time of great expectations -- awaiting fulfilment, with unshakeable faith, amidst the worst distress.
A small family of four in Maharagama is content now. Broad smiles wreathe the faces of father, mother and two daughters, but the smiles cannot mask the worry and anguish that not so long ago caught their lives in a vice-like grip for nearly six long months.
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| Anton Seneviratne, the Chief Engineer of the container ship M.V. Charelle |
For father, Anton Seneviratne, the Chief Engineer of the container ship M.V. Charelle, sailing the high seas from Yemen to Dubai, June 12 was just a routine day.
Pirates!
The alert from the Pirates’ Watch on the ship came around 4.30 in the afternoon at the turn of the Gulf, off the coast of Oman. The drill was simple….just the press of a button sent out the May Day distress signal simultaneously to other ships in the vicinity and also their own company, Tradex Marine Pvt. Ltd., based in New Zealand.
Before the very eyes of the crew – seven Sri Lankans including the Captain and three Filipinos -- a fishing vessel called a dow that had been captured by the pirates lowered a skiff and slowly but surely began gaining on the Charelle while targeting it with automatic fire and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). During a pirate attack all crew members “muster” on the bridge.
Even as the ship went into evasive manoeuvres, three RPGs whooshed overhead, missed the vessel and fell into the water. The manoeuvres slow the engine and drop the speed and Anton and the Electrical Engineer were making their way down to the engine room when the fourth RPG hit. “The noise was terrible in the enclosed space,” says Anton reliving the horror of that moment as the RPG came from the portside, pierced four thick bulkheads and went out from the other side, showering the two of them with shrapnel.
Concussed and a moment of not knowing what had happened, when Anton opened his eyes, he saw his colleague by his side covered in blood, both asking each other whether everything was okay. “We felt our bodies to see whether there were any holes,” smiles Anton.
By that time five Somali pirates in camouflage uniforms, toting AK-47s and also armed to their teeth with grenades, RPGs and also RPG launchers had boarded the ship.
Releasing the dow, two more pirates had come on board, ordering in sign language and place names that they sail to Socatra an island off Yemen, then to Somalia. When they dropped anchor, the pirates were replaced by 10 soldiers headed by a commander.
Then the long and arduous wait began, with the crew having to ration their water and food and restrict their electricity while a ‘Negotiator’ very fluent in English came on board to discuss the ransom for the release of the ship. “We, the crew being held hostage, were the bargaining chips for them,” says Anton who worried about their fuel stocks running out because they had to use the generator to keep communication lines open and also for the cooking while the ‘ship-jackers’ insisted that the lights should be kept on for fear of attacks from other armed groups.
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| Anton and Sandhyamalie with daughters Shilendree and Ayendree. |
Back at home, the family was in shock – when wife Sandhyamalie got that fateful call in the middle of the night from the company that misfortune had befallen Anton, she was left pondering whether it was a bad dream.
The gravity sank in only a few days later, says Sandhyamalie, wracked by thoughts whether she and her two girls would have to live without him. Their daughters Ayendree, 16, and Shilendree, 13, were frantically poring over maps looking at Somalia and wondering what fate had befallen their beloved Thaththi. “Faith in God was our ally in our time of dire need,” says Sandhyamalie.
In September, up went the spirits of the crew when they heard that the company had negotiated a ransom price and they would be going home soon, only to plummet, when the first ‘Negotiator’ was suddenly sacked and another brought in.
Our company was doing all it could to get us released, explains Anton, adding that owner Ben Evans and General Manager Tony Fernando were the pivots.
As each day passed they were running short of food. For months they had not eaten vegetables only rice and fish, with the soldiers bringing pasta, rice, tomato paste, tea and sugar. “We spent the long hours of worry, fishing and many were the tunas that we caught,” says Anton. Medicines were also becoming scarce.
Finally word filtered down that the deal was done – the ransom in dollars was to be parachute-dropped from an aircraft to a boat launched from the ship. “Before that Mr. Evans spoke to each and everyone of the crew on a phone provided by the soldiers to make sure that we were all safe,” says Anton.
The boat which went to collect the ransom was manned by the soldiers with one crew member on board and once the cash-drop was made, the aircraft took photos of all the crew members summoned to the monkey bridge of the ship.
Once the money was on board, it was the Captain who counted it while the ‘Negotiator’ and the soldiers watched. The green light for the Charelle to set sail for Oman came on December 3. “By the time we came to Oman we had only five tons of fuel left,” says Anton, adding that what saved him from the RPG and saw him through this harrowing experience was prayer. “I’ve carried a card with Psalm 91 with me,” he says, “and that will be my testimony for my narrow shave from the RPGs and my escape from the pirates.”
With Anton flying back to Sri Lanka last Thursday, for this family it is a happy ending of a terrible ordeal – for their Thaththi is home for Christmas. |
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