TAIPEI, Taiwan: Hostages were forced to eat mice, scorpions and centipedes to survive during the nearly five years they were held by Somali pirates, according to a Taiwanese seafarer who arrived home Wednesday.
Shen Jui-chang, among 26 hostages freed from the crew of Naham 3 seized south of the Seychelles in March 2012, added he had constantly had a gun pointed at his head during his ordeal.
Shen, the chief engineer on the fishing boat, was reunited with his wife and daughter on Tuesday in Guangzhou, southern China, after a long flight from Kenya with Chinese crew members after they were freed Sunday.
An emotional Shen arrived at Taipei’s main airport on Wednesday afternoon and said he was in “very poor physical health.”
“Every day was nerve-wracking, with the pirates pointing their AK-47 rifles at me 24 hours a day,” the frail-looking sailor told reporters.
Shen had earlier told reporters the hostages were given little to eat during their four-and-a-half years in captivity and were sometimes denied water.
Shen and the other men often caught and ate mice, scorpions and centipedes, according to Taiwanese media reports.
The crew, which also included seafarers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, were taken hostage at the peak of Somali piracy.
Only one other crew of fishermen spent longer in the hands of Somali pirates.
Three hostages died during the hijacking, including the Taiwanese captain who Shen said was shot when he attacked the pirates with a chair.
Taiwan’s government has been criticized for not doing enough to secure the hostages’ release, but the foreign ministry said Tuesday that efforts by the countries involved in the negotiations should be recognized.
Taiwanese hostage freed by Somali pirates ate mice, scorpions
Taiwanese hostage freed by Somali pirates ate mice, scorpions
Ukraine’s Zelensky says allies to provide new energy and military aid within 10 days
- Kyiv is aiming to rally support among partners as it struggles to fend off Russian battlefield advances and air attacks
KYIV: Ukraine has agreed new energy and military support packages with European allies ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.
Kyiv is aiming to rally support among partners as it struggles to fend off Russian battlefield advances and air attacks on its energy system while under US pressure to negotiate peace.
“In Munich, we agreed with the leaders of the Berlin Format on specific packages of energy and military aid for Ukraine by February 24,” Zelensky wrote on X.
Zelensky said on Friday after a meeting of the so-called Berlin Format of about a dozen European leaders in Munich that he had hoped for new support, including air-defense missiles.
“I am grateful to our partners for their readiness to help, and we count on all deliveries arriving promptly,” he added.
Russian attacks on major cities such as Kyiv have battered Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, plunging millions of residents into power outages of varying periods in freezing cold weather.
Zelensky added that Russia had launched around 1,300 attack drones, 1,200 guided aerial bombs and dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukraine over the past week alone.
