Rescued Korea crew slam pirate brutality

South Korean crew members meet family members at Gimhae International Airport in Busan yesterday

South Korean sailors from a cargo ship that was rescued in a dramatic commando raid said yesterday the Somali pirates who hijacked their ship had behaved brutally.
One of the seven crew members said he lost several teeth after being attacked by his captors.
"I got trampled and beaten... just for talking with our captain,” chief officer Kim Doo-Chan told Yonhap news agency, adding the captain was shot at point-blank range.
Pirates hijacked the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry in the Arabian Sea on January 15, and held it until South Korean naval commandos stormed the ship six days later.
Eight pirates were killed while all 21 crew were rescued—eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar. Police say the pirates shot and critically wounded captain Seok Hae-Kyun.
Third officer Choi Jin-Kyong told investigators the pirates treated Seok and some other senior crew members violently, beating or threatening to kill them, Yonhap said.
Local media have hailed Seok as one of the heroes of the operation. Officials said the captain stalled for time as a South Korean destroyer pursued his ship by steering it in a zigzag course despite constant threats from his captors.
Yonhap quoted chief engineer Chung Mann-Ki as saying his colleagues had secretly sabotaged the rudder and other vital systems.
Most crew members were on the bridge when commandos stormed the ship, he said, adding two of the most vicious pirates were killed at that time.
After tearful reunions with families at an airport in the southern port of Busan, the crew were taken to a coastguard office to help with the country’s first legal bid to punish foreign pirates.
Five Somalis were flown to Busan on Sunday and arrested on charges of maritime robbery, attempted murder and ship hijacking.
They could face life in prison if convicted of shooting Seok. If the captain were to die, they could theoretically be sentenced to death, although South Korea has carried out no executions since 1997.
Investigators are also looking into whether the pirates targeted the Samho Jewelry after learning that a South Korean supertanker owned by the same firm was freed after a large ransom was paid.
The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew were released last year after a reported $9mn payment.
The case is being closely watched by other countries tackling piracy, as is a case in Malaysia, where seven alleged pirates captured in a raid to free a hijacked oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden arrived Monday for possible prosecution.
Piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
But many of those caught by an international fleet of warships are freed because there is nowhere to try them.
Somali pirates have released a Taiwan fishing boat and its 28 crew after eight months in captivity, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The Tai Yuan 227 sailed into the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, yesterday, after it was released, the ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan’s trade office in India has sent staff members to Colombo to meet the crew, it said.
The boat was seized by Somali pirates on May 6 while sailing west of the Maldives. The trawler’s captain is a Chinese mainlander while the crew hail from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya and Mozambique.
During its captivity, Somali pirates changed the name of the Tai Yuan 227 and used it as a mothership to launch attacks on other foreign ships with smaller craft, the ministry said.
The statement did not mention any payment, but Somali pirates seldom release hijacked vessels without receiving ransom.