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| Southeast Asia |
| Prisoners siezed by pirates recount their ordeal |
| 2005-03-22 |
| The captain and two crewmembers of a Japanese tugboat abducted by pirates and later released said the group was composed of five well-trained men and that they were taken to a place they believe was in Indonesia. Nobuo Inoue, 56, the captain of the 498-ton Idaten, chief engineer Shunji Kuroda, 50, and Filipino engineer Edgardo Sadang, 41, described in detail their seven-day ordeal at a news conference held in Penang. Five pirates fired shots at Idaten when they attacked the vessel. Inoue and Kuroda told reporters that they were terrified at the time. "We were ordered to change boats about seven times and taken to a location that we believe was in Indonesia," one of them said. "We were moved from one place to another every day. We were even marched through the jungle in the middle of the night." They told the news conference that the pirates were as well trained as military personnel, but never attempted to abuse them. "They appeared to be well trained soldiers, and described themselves as Papua New Guineans. Their activities were well organized and they never threatened to abuse us," Inoue said. "When I asked the pirates to give me a cigarette, they sometimes complied." "The younger abductors in particular took care of us," Kuroda said. The three told reporters that they were given the same kind of food as the pirates ate -- comprising rice and fish -- in the jungle. At around 6 p.m., last Friday, they were taken to a beach where they believe they first landed after being abducted, and boarded a ship. They then changed to four other ships. They said they were released and ordered to ride the last boat at a small fishing port in Thailand. The three added that they had told the pirates that they wanted to go to Malaysia, but the abductors did not understand. Probably pretended not to understand - serves 'em right. I've had Japanese people pretend not to understand me even though I'm speaking clearly and nobody else seems to have a problem. They were rescued by Thai police Sunday evening while drifting at sea. Kuroda expressed anger at the security situation. "How is it possible for pirates to still be active." |
| Posted by:gromky |
| #1 umm yeah, Yes sure, let's bunch em all together! Serves'em right? |
| Posted by: Clavimp Ebbiling2275 2005-03-22 9:24:35 AM |