One of the sailors on the EOS ship, which was caught in Yemen, loaded
with weapons and directed by an Albanian captain, says that their ship
was hijacked.
Yannis Dhakaris, mechanic of the ship, returned home in Greece after staying for one month in the Yemeni prison. He shows the documents of freight that the ship captain Arif Bakillari gave him to show to the media.
The captain, the chief mate and the mechanic, all three of them Albanians, and two Indian sailors, are now imprisoned in Yemen.
The 63-year-old says in tears that his mates enjoy good health, despite the inhuman conditions in which they are living. He rejected the insinuations that the freight could be illegal, and shows the official documents.
According to his counts, the ship was loaded for a Serbian company and its destination was Iraq. The ship was checked and sealed at the Astako port in northern Patra.
Eos then sailed to Turkey, where it loaded the freight and accompanied by a NATO ship, it went to the Aden Bay, Yemen.
“The NATO ships accompanied us to Mombasa, and then we were alone until we arrived in Aden. After downloading some of the freight, EOS sailed to Iraq where the itinerary would end and where we would be looking for a load to return in the Mediterranean. On December 15th, the ship damaged one piston and remained without fuel. After notifying the Mukala port in Yemen, we were told to enter the port, where we repaired the defect and refuelled. But a hundred of soldiers and policemen arrived and left after they saw the freight. They returned the next day and asked us to open the freight, but the captain refused, since the haul was sealed. I heard a Yemeni army officer saying that he liked the freight and wanted to keep it. I’m convinced that they wanted it because its cost was millions of dollars. Then they sent us to a prison, without any charges, and we stayed in a cell with 50 other people. They gave us two mattresses and rice with flies in it. There were very inhuman conditions. The guards beat the inmates with plastic tubes. There were no human rights at all. There are no human rights in Yemen”, Dhakaris declared.
The Greek sailor declared that he could communicate with the Greek embassy in Yemen and the Iraqi consulate. They sent food, clothes and assisted them. Thanks to their help, the sailors returned to the ship where they are kept isolated, while the Albanian captain is still in hospital.
“I believe that we were hijacked. I had the chance to get away from there, but the three Albanian sailors and the two Indian ones have had no help, now that I am not there. The Greek embassy cannot help them anymore, while the Albanian embassy never answered to the phone calls”, Dhakaris added.
By transmitting the appeals for help from his colleagues, the Greek sailor says that the Albanian government, president and authorities should engage to help the hijacked sailors in Yemen, because they are innocent.
Top Channel
