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Among a 25-member multinational crew held captive by Somali militiamen for nearly four months were three Chinese sailors who arrived safely in Shanghai Monday afternoon.

 

The men, Jin Hongji, Yuan Zhengnan and Li Taimin arrived at Pudong International Airport after a flight from Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirates, according to officers at the Pudong Entry-Exit Frontier Inspection Station.

 

The seamen, who are in their 40s, are from the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China's Jilin Province. They were due to take a train home late today, said police.  

 

The trio, members of China's Korean ethnic minority, briefed the immigration police on their ordeal though details were few because of their limited knowledge of Mandarin.

 

One sailor said, "All three of us at one point wrote down our last words. During our captivity we were desperate. Now we are grateful that our country never gave up on us and finally helped us home."

 

Shots at sea

 

The men were crew members on the 361-ton Dongwon-ho 628 off the Somalian coast on April 4 when it was seized by eight militiamen who approached the vessel in speedboats firing their weapons.

 

Also on board were eight South Koreans, nine Indonesians and five Vietnamese, according to the Associated Press. The crew was hired by South Korea's Dongwon Fisheries Co Ltd who own the fishing vessel.   

 

The Chinese sailors said they were fishing in international waters when they were seized by the militiamen who accused the crew of fishing illegally and suspected there might be pirates on board. Piracy is common along Somalia's coast and some militias conduct patrols on their own, according to Reuters.

 

The sailors told Shanghai officers that the Somali militiamen cut off all their communication with the outside world and fed them only meager meals but they were not otherwise mistreated. During their nearly four months in captivity they'd not been allowed to change their clothes, they said.

 

The crew was freed after the gunmen were paid more than US$400,000 Reuters quoted Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarer Assistance Program, an east African maritime organization, as saying.

 

The three Chinese sailors received new clothing, food and other care from Chinese diplomatic workers who met them at Kenya's Mombasa Port last Saturday. They told police they'd rest for a couple of months then look for more fishing work.

 

(Shanghai Daily August 8, 2006)