David McKenzie | BIO
CNN Correspondent
The whole world is talking about pirates, since they grabbed an Iranian ship and then a gigantic Saudi supertanker. Pirates operating off the coast of East Africa, have attacked more than 90 ships this year alone.
The U.S. has sent in ships to join a NATO-led international fleet, which has battled, fended off and sunk some pirate ships. But the pirates are still attacking, and still hold 17 ships and more than 300 prisoners.
It sounds like something you’d see in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean or Captain Hook, but the weapons are bigger and it's much more dramatic because it's real life.
And the human toll is painful, as Thumani Said can attest. I interviewed Thumani in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya.
He was captured by pirates on the cargo ship that he helped sail to Mogadishu, Somalia from Kenya. The company he works for has had three ships hijacked by the pirates.
One of the hijacking incidents occurred even when they were trying to transport humanitarian aide to suffering Somalis in that lawless, poverty-stricken country that has been without a central government since 1991, and where clashes among various groups vying for power often occur.
Thumani and his fellow crew members were held by the pirates for over 100 days! He sat under the barrel of an AK47 thinking about his new wife and family. At first, he was afraid to die, and then he just became resigned to his fate. The pirates didn't treat them too badly physically, and they had food stocks stored on the boat. But they were constantly badgered by the pirates who wanted to know why the ransom wasn't being paid.
Eventually his company paid a ransom and the ship returned home. Thumani was paid a measly ‘bonus’ of $80 dollars for his troubles. While he was held hostage, he was not paid his salary.
So, as we hear and read about pirates on the high seas, complete with tales of warships and ransoms, spare a thought for people like Thumani. The 300 hostages out there right now don’t know if they will ever return home.
