| 19 May 2007 04:13 SOMALIA WATCH |
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Crew of 'Johana' Await Sale of Ship to be Paid Story Filed: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 10:20 PM EST Mogadishu (The East African, March 21, 2000) - The MV Sea Johana, which was hijacked off the coast of Somalia in 1998, is yet to find a buyer, dashing the hopes of its 21 crew members of being paid their dues. The crew, six Tanzanians, 10 Pakistani, two Burmese, two Indians and an Indonesian, survived a kidnap ordeal when the ship was hijacked by Somali militiamen but were never paid for their services. They were released by the kidnappers mid last year. The Sea Johana, registered in Tanzania and owned by a Briton, Mr. Muhammed Shabir, is anchored at Mombasa, where it was towed from the Somali coast. A Mombasa advocate, Francis Kinyua Kamundi, who represents the 21 crew members, said: "When the vessel was first advertised for sale, an Indian firm showed interest, but its officials never showed up." Mr. Kamundi said that in addition to the claim by the crew, a company, Muri International Salvage, was demanding payment from the ship's owner for salvage services. "The ship is now anchored at a jetty and I am afraid it might have started taking in water," he said. The Somali pirates had hijacked the ship demanding money and food, but finding no money, they took the crew hostage. They were held for almost seven months by the militiamen under the command of Somali warlord Hassan Abdallah, who demanded a $2 million ransom. The vessel's owner paid $10,000 through his agent, a Mr. Muhammad Assif. However, the hostages were only released after Egypt and Libya intervened through their East African missions. Mr. John Stuart Magembe, one of the Tanzanian crew members, told The EastAfrican last week that they were hopeful the vessel would be sold. The other Tanzanians who were held hostage were Aloyce Bwire, Eliya Mwasigala, Alex Fortunatus Chota, Victor Ray Katebe and Edwin Wambura. Mr. Magembe said: "I personally signed a contract with the representative of the owner, Mr. Muhammad Assif, but we got into problems with Somali militiamen, the owner disowned the ship and we were left at the mercy of the international community." The ship was bought at an auction by Mr. Shabir in 1998 for $100,000 (Tsh72 million then) and in the same year it set sail for India with a consignment of soda ash from Kenya. However, the ship developed engine problems off the Somali coast, a few hours after leaving Mombasa port. "I was on night shift that day and I remember that the vessel developed cylinder head problems and the engine stopped," Mr. Magembe said. After the engine failure, the ship started drifting into Somali waters, where it was hijacked, he said. Copyright © 2000 The East African. Distributed via Africa News Online. You may now print or save this document. [ News] |
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