A week ago, the 33-year-old Filipino crew member Anel Barbero thought he would spend the rest of his life in Somalia; a day ago, Barbero finally announced his new life with a "decent lunch".
Four-and-a-half years, 1672 days, isolated from the world, "Lucky to survive!" On the day of his rescue on the 22nd, the first thing Barbero did was to borrow the phone of a UN staff member to report to his family. Peace, "Finally wait until this day!"
rescued crew arrived in the Kenyan capital Nairobi
time back to March 2012, the Omani Taiwanese fishing boat "NAHAM3" was hijacked by Somali pirates, 29 crew including Barbero on board, Among them are 12 Chinese. During the hijacking, 3 crew members died unfortunately... Yes, we still ate rats, we ate everything. After being hijacked at sea for more than a year, the remaining 26 crew members were moved away from the capital of Somalia due to the shipwreck accident. A small village 400 kilometers from Gadishu.
"We live in the forest and sleep in tents under the trees," Barbero said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency on the 25th. Because pirates are more vigilant, crew members carry their tents every two or three months. Transfer of residence.
In order to fill their stomachs, the crew used ropes and tree trunks to make a net to catch mice and birds. "Yes, we still eat mice, we eat everything." Barbero, who we would go home alive, recalled that almost none of the Chinese crew could speak English, and he and another Filipino crew who could speak a little Chinese became "Translation" to help Chinese and other nationalities communicate.
Disease, hunger, torture, fear... In the past four and a half years, almost everyone has the idea of desperately committing suicide. "Can't stand it... There is no way," Barbero said in Chinese.
However, he always remembered that the Chinese crew once said to him, "We need you to communicate with other people." This sentence gave Barbero an inexplicable responsibility and gave him the motivation to stick to it. "We have been comforting each other, we will go home, we will go home..." Occasionally, the crew would quarrel over trivial matters, but most of the time they were very harmonious. In Barbero’s view, everyone has a common belief, that is, to "leave alive!" Keep silent because they have not been released. On the 23rd day the crew arrived in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, American reporter Michael Moore also appeared at the airport. When he saw the crew, he cried.
It turned out that Moore was the news protagonist who was reported by the world's major media two years ago and released by Somali pirates.
Moore who was kidnapped
Moore told reporters that he was kidnapped by another group of pirates and then taken to the "NAHAM3" fishing boat. He spent 5 months hostage with the crew. "When I learned that the crew had been rescued, I flew over from Berlin and I must meet them." "The only thing I can do in the past two years is to remain silent." Moore said that he had accepted a lot before. The media interview, but never disclosed the five-month experience, "because they have not been released yet." Every day, using the other party's language to say "good morning" and talking about the experience of being a hostage on the ship, Moore expressed more gratitude to the Chinese crew.
Moore remembers that when he was first tied to the boat, he didn't know how to deal with food. Two Chinese crew members brought him bowls and taught him how to use the kitchen utensils on the boat. At that moment, Moore felt that he had become one of them, and temporarily forgot the pain of his head being shot with a spear by the pirates.
"A Chinese named Wen Lengbin told me that when I return to the United States one day, remember to tell the Americans that the Chinese are good!" In Moore’s view, the kidnapped In this period of time, the most challenging thing is not to face the fear of occasional torture by the pirates, but to wait for the future full of unknowns.
"Every day, I and a Chinese greet each other'good morning' in each other's language. This is like a ritual, which can fill us with hope."
On October 24, the rescued crew (hatters) arrived. Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, ready to take a flight back home. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Ruibo) After the interview of
that day, Barbero and other Filipino crew membersTravel together from the hotel to the Philippine Embassy in Kenya. When leaving, Barbero told reporters that he would miss his Chinese friends and hope to keep in touch. "Finally home!"
