Twelve Vietnamese sailors who were seized by Somali pirates arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport at 3pm yesterday. All of them burst into tears at the airport.

One hour before the sailors’ aircraft landed at the Noi Bai Airport, their relatives and correspondents waited for them at the terminal.

Holding a bunch of flowers, Mr. Luu Dinh Thu, sailor Luu Dinh Hung’s father, said that he and his family were very happy when they were informed that Somali pirates had released his son. His family took a bus to Hanoi on July 23 to welcome his son.

“The last conversation I made with him (sailor Hung) was on the afternoon of July 23. He said that all sailors were healthy and very happy because they would return home soon,” Thu said.

Head of the Overseas Labor Management Agency of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tao, said sailors would have returned home in March but the pirates handed over them to another group of pirates, resulted in longer time for negotiation.

Tao said employers would give each sailor VND1 million ($50) as traveling expenses to return home.

Ten of the 12 sailors come from the central province of Nghe An and two from the central province of Ha Tinh.

All sailors and their relatives cried when they saw each other after years. All sailors were very thin and tanned.

“I will never forget my days seized by the pirates. We were caged and were not allowed to have baths…,” said sailor Nguyen Van Hai, 20.

Hai said his ship was caught by the pirates in Somali waters. They used the ship as bait to rob other vessels. Sailors had to work very hard for the pirates. Sometimes, the pirates forced them to call their families to ask for ransom.

After nearly one year of living in a boat, the pirates took the sailors into a forest, where they were put into cages like animals. They were fed with rice and water, twice a day. All sailors lost at least 10kg in weight.

Hai said he had left home for 32 months. “Perhaps my girlfriend has got married,” he said.

Sailors said that they were afraid of going into the sea again.

On December 25, 2010, Taiwan’s FV Shiuh Fu No.1 ship, with 12 Vietnamese and 14 Chinese sailors on board, was seized by Somali pirates. In 18 months, families of sailors occasionally received sailors’ phone calls from Somalia. They asked their families to pay ransom to not have their arms or legs cut off by the pirates.

On July 17, 2012, the ship and sailors were released.

Source: VNN