April 24, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1429

BOSASSO (Somalia), April 23: The Pakistani crew of a Dubai-flagged cargo ship said on Wednesday they were lucky to be alive after being captured by Somali pirates then rescued in a shootout at sea.

A. Akbar, second-in-command of the Al-Khaleej, told Reuters seven pirates posing as fishermen in dire need of drinking water came alongside on Monday only to hijack the ship at gunpoint after being allowed on board.

“We let in three of them. Suddenly four others, who were armed, boarded the ship. They then ordered the captain to change course and took us between Mukalah (in Yemen) and Dubai. They held us there at sea all night,” he said in Urdu.

On Tuesday, scores of security officers from the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland stormed the ship and engaged the pirates in a gunbattle that lasted for an hour. They rescued the 16 crew members and arrested the pirates.

“The troops came in the morning, before the pirates had asked us for any ransom,” Akbar, 27, told Reuters, speaking on behalf of the crew.

When the pirates came on board, the Pakistani crew scattered and tried to hide in different parts of the cargo ship that had been en route from Dubai to Puntland. They were all found by the pirates, who promised not to hurt them.

“In the morning many troops on two speedboats surrounded our ship. Then the shootout started. It was really frightening.

“The pirates surrendered after three of them were wounded. I can’t believe we are free. It was a nightmare,” he said, smiling.

Akbar, who spoke standing near the ship at Puntland’s Bosasso port, said it was the crew’s first encounter with pirates after five years sailing in the region.

A surge in maritime hijackings for ransom in the waters off the coast of lawless Somalia has made it one of the world’s most dangerous shipping zones.

The Al-Khaleej will offload its cargo of food, cars and fuel and sail back to Dubai to bring in more supplies, under escort next time by Puntland authorities.

A Spanish tuna fishing vessel was hijacked over the weekend and is still held by pirates in Garad, a remote coastal town in the Indian Ocean waters off southeast Puntland.

The wife of Amadeo Alvarez, the boat’s owner, told state radio her husband had told her in a telephone call the 26 crew were being held on dry land and all were in good health.

Somali authorities said on Tuesday they had sent a force to release the boat. Spain has sent one of its frigates.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said no ransom demand had been received. “First we have to hear what they are asking for, what they want,” he said on television in Spain.—Reuters