The crew of MV Iceberg 1, abandoned by her owners, tortured by Somali terrorists

By Rob Ameida - 

The MV Iceberg 1 is a Panama-flagged Roll on-Roll off ship that was attacked and overrun by pirates on 29 March 2010.

Since that time, the crew has been left to rot in a Somali hell-hole by the owners of the vessel, Azal Shipping and Cargo, who have since gone out of business.

At least one of the crew has already committed suicide.

The Panamanian flagged Ro-Ro ship MV ICE BERG I was attacked and hijacked by armed pirates on 29th March last year while underway in position latitude 13:15 north and longitude 046:40 east in the Gulf of Aden at approximately 0930hrs.

On March 29th, 2010 the MV ICEBERG 1 was only ten miles out from the port of Aden heading to the United Kingdom when she was attacked and seized by Somali pirates.

Her cargo consists of generators, transformers and empty fuel tanks for a British power rental company, Aggreko International Power Projects.The ICEBERG 1, a RoRo ship with a multinational crew, is typical of much of the traffic in the region, but they became an example of the inhumanity dealt to innocent seafarers on behalf of piracy.

On December 17th the Captain of the vessel, Abdirazzak Ali Saleh, told Agence France-Presse, “The water we have is unclean and we have only one meal a day, boiled rice, that’s it.

The crew is suffering physically and mentally,” in a phone interview. He added that they had been locked up in a lower hold approximately five meters square for close to nine months.

Earlier reports indicated that the negotiations were in progress, but the crew members now tell Somalia Report that nothing good is going on except hunger and starvation. A crew member also said that there are currently three crew members suffering from psychological problems.

Almost a year after being hijacked by pirates, the situation aboard MV ICEBERG I is very dark and gloomy, according to a phone interview with the crew members conducted by Somali Report.

They are running out of ship stores, fuel and fresh water supply, and in their opinion, Dubai-based Azal Shipping, the ship owner has abandoned them.

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