PIRACY TODAY BLOG
Image of MV ALBEDO's lifeboat - click for gCaptain storyCaptain Jawaid's family were featured in a movie called Piracy - The Human Cost that was released last year. His daughters worked tirelessly, and successfully, to gain his freedom. They established a Facebook page here to raise support and money. The other 15 members of his crew have not been so lucky, however.
The 23 MV ALBEDO sailors have been subjected to horrific treatment and torture in the nearly 3 years they have been captive. Not only was one crewman shot, but all of the crewmen were beaten, maimed, deprived of food, water, and rest for days at a time, and not permitted to use the head. The Captain was trussed up at one point and dunked in the sea, while pirates fired into the water around him. This story from The National tells some of the tale.
However, this story from bdnews24.com - a Bangladeshi online news source - reports that the seven Bangladeshi crewmen are alive, according to the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And the presence of the two lifeboats on the beach - about 14 miles from the site of the sinking - might indicate that more of the captives had survived.
Now that the ship has sunk, the pirates may have a weaker negotiating hand with the shipowner, but things look to be worse for the surviving crew. The bdnews24.com story indicates that the Bangladesh government knows something about their sailors, at least, but no one has said where they are being held.
Maybe these last sad developments will spur both sides to resolve the situation at last and get these abused seamen home again. Pray for these men!