MV Albedo latest victim of Somali pirates:

Ministry working to ensure safety of Lankans

By Manjula FERNANDO

“We are still trying to work out a communication link with the pirates via the Somali landlords, to ensure the safety of the Sri Lankan crew members,” Spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry Sithara Khan said when the Sunday Observer contacted her on Thursday to get the latest information on the Sri Lankans on board the recently hijacked Malaysian flagged merchant vessel ‘Albedo’.

She said they were in touch with the Sri Lankan missions in Nairobi and Malaysia to verify media reports and find out the condition of the Sri Lankan people. The conversation was interrupted with the spokesperson announcing, “We are receiving a communique from our Malaysian mission. It says here that preliminary inquiries have indicated that there are six crew members on board this vessel, but no further details are given,” she hastily said. But the local shipping agent said there were only five Lankan crew members on MV Albedo.

Media reports originating from Malaysia and Africa said, on November 26, MV Albedo, a bulk freight and container vessel, was on a voyage from the UAE to Mombassa, Kenya.

It was 900 nautical miles east of the Somali capital Mogadishu when the pirates forcibly boarded the ship.

Thirteen more Lankans, the crew of another ship captured by the ruthless Somali pirates in March, are also at the mercy of the pirates.

Negotiations are still going on to secure their release, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.

The EU’s Operation Atlanta Task Force said 22 ships are currently being held by Somali pirates with more than 500 crew members who were on board these ships being held as hostages. This includes 13 Sri Lankans taken hostage earlier.

“We are not responsible for maritime operations, thus no records of seafarers on outbound travels are maintained by the Ministry but if crew members send in distress calls like this, we have to intervene to secure their release,” Khan explained.

None of the family members of the recent hostages have contacted the External Affairs Ministry so far seeking help, but the Missions have been alerted to make contact with the Somali authorities since the media reports were spotted, she said.

The pirates have not made any contact with the principals, the Majestic Enrich Shipping Firm based in northern Malaysia, according to the Malaysian media. No ransom offer had been made as this paper went to press. However, this is the norm with Somali pirates; they will not make their ransom demand until the ship is safely berthed at a secret hideout along the Somali coast. The vessel was being towed to the Somali coast by the pirates on Thursday. Director General, Merchant Shipping Department of the Ports and Highways Ministry Shantha Weerakoon had contacted the local agents of the shipping firm.

“The local agents informed us that there were five Sri Lankan crew members on board this ship. The Malaysian company is expected to negotiate with the pirates if a ransom demand is made”, he said. First we need to get correct information. This is time-consuming, given the fact only one seafarer out of the five had followed the correct procedure when setting off on the job contract.

Any seafarer who enters into a job contract should sign their agreements in the presence of an official of the Merchant Shipping Department. We are supposed to be the witness. But this rule is sometimes breached.

“How can we protect their rights if we are unaware of their job contracts,” Weerakoon asked.

He said there were about 30,000 seafarers registered with them, but only about 18,000 can be counted as active seafarers. Over 7,000 seafarers had job contracts on ships every year.

“This is the official figure, but the actual figure may be about 4,000 more with Lankans based in the Middle East operating from there, he said.

Albedo had 23 crew members from Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Malaysian media reported that its government was liaising with the Somali envoys and the Missions of the crew members’ countries to negotiate their release soon.

“The Somali pirates are after money. They will not harm any hostages unless the crew members turn violent,” Weerakoon said, adding however, that they were not in a position to figure out the real situation there.

Two days after the hijacking of MV Albedo, two dinghies with at least one injured Somali national among 10 others had been discovered by Maldivian authorities. A search operation found a bullet shell in one of the dinghies, Maldives’ Miniwan News reported.

The Maldivan authorities suspect that these boat people may have been involved in illegal activities and when they drifted off from the mother boat, had pretended to be fishermen waiting to be rescued.

The European Union and NATO as well as countries such as Russia and China are currently maintaining maritime patrols in this pirate-infested region, but Somali piracy still continues unabated, encouraged by lax laws against sea piracy in neighbouring states such as Kenya.

There have been reports that Somali pirates are now venturing out of their territories in the Indian Ocean. This is alarming news for countries such as Sri Lanka which has strong resolve to become the maritime hub of South Asia.