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Two Britons on seized Saudi supertanker say pirates treating them well
(SomaliNet) The two British crew members of a Saudi supertanker seized by Somali pirates 10 days ago told media here Tuesday they were being well treated by their captors. "Everything is OK, we've got no mistreatment or anything, we're being treated quite well," Peter French, the chief engineer on the Sirius Star, told ITV News television by telephone. Peter said the pirates were "no problem whatsoever", adding: "Hopefully we are going to get some more phone calls to our families soon. Our families don't have too much to worry about at the moment." Second officer James Grady said the 25-strong crew were not being allowed on deck. But while he said their captors were heavily armed, he said they appeared "quite relaxed" and had not hurt the hostages. It was unclear whether the pirates were present during the interview. Grady said the pirates had taken the ship within minutes of boarding it on November 15 in the Indian Ocean. It was the biggest ship ever hijacked and is carrying a 100 million dollar load of oil. "It happened very quickly, really. It was early on the 15th. Ship's time 0855 they boarded the ship, and by two minutes past nine we were slowing down, because they had control of the bridge by then," the officer said. He asked for a message to be passed on to his family: "Not to worry. We hope that it's not going to be too much longer." Sailors from Croatia, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia are also among the crew of the supertanker, which is now anchored off the Somali coastal village of Harardhere. Posted by: Fred 2008-11-27 |
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