Hostages had to eat mice and scorpions to survive Somali pirates

Shen Jui-chang, centre, arrives home at Taiwan airport. He was one of the 26 sailors held hostage by Somali pirates since March 2012. Tyrone Siu / Reuters

TAIPAI // 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 on Wednesday.

Shen Jui-chang, among 26 hostages freed from the crew of Naham 3 seized south of the Seychelles in March 2012, said he constantly had a gun pointed at his head during his ordeal.

Mr Shen, the chief engineer on the fishing boat, was reunited with his wife and daughter on Tuesday in Guangzhou, southern China, after flying 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-racking, with the pirates pointing their AK-47 rifles at me 24 hours a day,” the frail-looking sailor said.

Mr Shen said the hostages were given little to eat during their four-and-a-half years in captivity and were sometimes denied water. It forced Mr Shen and the other captives to catch and eat e 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 Mr Shen said was shot when he attacked the pirates with a chair.

Taiwan’s government has been criticised for not doing enough to secure the hostages’ release, but the foreign ministry said on Tuesday that efforts by the countries involved in the negotiations should be recognised.

* Agence France-Presse