MOGADISHU – "Nightmarish" is the way the crew of the Al-Meezan cargo vessel recount their time in captivity at the hands of Somali pirates.
One week after being freed, this Panama-flagged ship with 18 sailors on board, including 15 Indians and two Pakistanis, is anchored in the port of Mogadishu.
Somali dockers, with traditional wraps round their waists, shout as they shift sacks of flour on the quay, under the gaze of the crew members on the gangway.
The second officer Niaz Mohamad, a Pakistani, welcomed the journalists on board by saying he was relieved to be able to talk to "normal" people.
"They treated us like dogs, they hit us, they threatened to kill us," he said, obviously still traumatized by his time in captivity.
Al-Meezan set sail October 25 from Ajman (in the United Arab Emirates) for Mogadishu," said the ship's captain Mohamad Shafi Noor, a grandfather of 70 with a mane of grey hair.
"It was my first mission," he sighed.
"On November 3, when we were about 150 nautical miles from the Somali coast, we were chased by three small boats with very powerful engines. It's all in the logbook," the old man said, pointing to a black book on the table.
"We'd hardly had time to raise the alarm when the attackers were already on board. They're very intelligent. They immediately took over the controls, switched off all the electronic equipment and headed for Garacad" in north eastern Somalia where the ship anchored in the shelter of a small island, he said.
Al-Meezan is one of the rare ships of this size that regularly sails to Mogadishu and was already captured by pirates last May.
Great controversy surrounded its latest capture after a Somali official said the vessel was carrying a big cargo of small arms.
The accusation was denied by the owner of the cargo, Abdi Ali Farah, a Somali who heads the Juba General Trading Company. He said the ship was carrying only sugar and general merchandise.
Built in 1979, the 2,000-ton 50-meter long Al-Meezan is managed from Dubai by Biyat International.
The Al-Meezan 7906710 is owned by a company called Shahmir Maritime based in the Carribean Grenadine Islands and described by people who know it as a front company.
Chartered by Somali businessmen, the ship mostly plies between the Gulf States and Somalia. When it was captured for the first time around the pirates were already claiming it had arms on board.
"For this latest trip "we had on board sugar, construction materials and some vehicles," captain Noor said with an exasperated gesture.
The pirates kept the 18 crew members locked up 24 hours a day in a tiny room on the upper deck.
The only Somali crew member did the translating.
"When he wasn't around if you wanted to go to the toilet you had to raise your little finger."
The most critical point came on November 17 "when they told us to take the ship in to shore – we thought they were going to kill us", Noor said.
The boat was freed the next day. The captain and his men said they had no idea if a ransom had been paid.
"It was the duty of all those people who made a lot of money out of us to pay up and save us," one tearful crew member told Agence France-Presse in his cabin.
Noor, who feels "relatively safe" in Mogadishu port, said he was waiting for instructions and was ready to go back to sea.
