Durban response frees sailors
Two years in Nigerian jail for stricken ship’s crew
AFTER nearly two years in a Nigerian jail after their vessel’s arrest when it drifted into Nigerian waters owing to a power failure, 11 sailors have been reunited with their families this week thanks to intervention by the Durban-based International Sailors’ Society of Southern Africa Crisis Response Centre.
The crew, predominantly from India, languished in jail as their families desperately tried to confirm their whereabouts, before they were found by the crisis centre.
On Thursday, Rev Boet van Schalkwyk of the centre confirmed the release, saying they were delighted the men would be going home at last.
He said the sailors’ saga started in July 2014 when the vessel MT Maro, carrying crude oil, lost power between Ghana and Cameroon.
“When they drifted into Nigerian waters, the navy caught them.
They were interrogated and the vessel was searched.
“They were suspected of stealing oil as there had been incidents in which ships in the outer anchorage would tap into the oil pipeline. So the navy was suspicious of anyone who drifted into their waters,” said Van Schalkwyk.
The sailors were charged by the Nigerian economic and financial crime commission, taken to jail in the small town of Yenagoa and all but disappeared from the world.
“Over a year later, the ship’s engineer managed to smuggle a letter through to his family in India.
“They tried to make contact with the ship’s agent, but he had scarpered.
“The family then spoke to their MP in New Delhi and she started making the right noises to find out where these guys were and we were contacted. We started negotiating with Nigeria’s National Seafarer’s Board and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria. They were amazing and invited us to Nigeria in September last year,” said Van Schalkwyk.
A first on the continent, the crisis response centre had just been set up. It is the first port of call for any sailor in trouble along the African coastline.
Their team consists of 18 chaplains from across Africa, including Ghana, Madagascar, Reunion and Mozambique.
Father Thami Tembe, from the Mission to Seafarers based in Durban harbour, accompanied Van Schalkwyk on the rescue mission to Nigeria.
“The sailors had already been there for a long time. I had a photo of the chief engineer, but he had lost so much weight, I didn’t recognise him.
“We asked to see the sailors and they brought in 38 guys who all wanted to speak to us at once,” said Van Schalkwyk.
They had soon singled out the missing crew from the MT Maro, while others included a stowaway who had been arrested along with the crew and some others who were facing prosecution for illegal activities in the Niger delta region.
Once back home, the pair raised awareness in the media of the sailors’ plight, while continuing negotiations for their release.
After reading the story in the UK media, the Sandesara Group of India, which produces oil, stepped in to assist.
Besides the oil giants such as Shell, Exxaro and Chevron, the Sandesara Group is the largest acreage owner in Nigeria.
The sailors were transferred from Yenagoa to Kalaba, where the court sat, and after a number of hearings, were finally released last week.
Van Schalkwyk also said that there was concern that the number of kidnappings for ransom in the Gulf of Guinea had surged this year.
“There have been 56 incidents since April last year and kidnappings in the second quarter of this year surpassed the whole of 2015.” Making their way along the Durban promenade with twirls in their saris are, from back left, Kara Camacho, Sejal Bhana, Asanda Lajila, Srishti Pattundeen, Kemi Adebayo and Sanam Baijnath. In the forefront is guitarist Dina Daniels who will strum sweet tunes along the route. The Sari Stroll has moved up on the calendar and will now take place on July 31 from the Durban beachfront amphitheatre at 1pm.