Alappuzha sailor returns home after months in Houthi captivity; recounts ordeal
The cargo ship on which Anil had worked was attacked on July 7 near the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
The cargo ship on which Anil had worked was attacked on July 7 near the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
The cargo ship on which Anil had worked was attacked on July 7 near the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
Alappuzha: “As the ship broke apart in a loud explosion, I jumped into the sea. While I was drowning, a boat came to our rescue, but they took us straight to the Houthi rebels who had attacked the ship. We were incarcerated there,” says Anilkumar Ravindran, a security officer on a ship that came under attack by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Having spent six months in captivity, Anilkumar finally reached his home at Kayamkulam on Thursday. As he recounted his days in incarceration, his wife Sreeja and his two children, Anooj and Anagha, listened with tears welling in their eyes. The cargo ship on which Anilkumar had worked was attacked on July 7 near the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
“Though the rebels jailed us in a hotel, they did not assault us. On the night of December 2, an army official came in and said I would be released the next day. On the evening of December 3, I left Yemen for Oman and reached the Indian Embassy there. It was only when I boarded a flight to Kochi from Muscat that I could finally believe I was free,” Anilkumar added.