Captured by Somali pirates
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 November 2020
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2008, Captain Colin Darch and his crew were taking a tug boat from Russia to Singapore when they were attacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. They were held hostage for 47 days. In the late 2000s, Somali piracy was starting to become a major threat in the Indian Ocean. Over the next few years there were hundreds of attacks a year until naval forces from around the world deployed to the Gulf of Aden to protect shipping. Alex Last has been talking to Captain Colin Darch about his ordeal.
Photo: An armed Somali pirate keeping vigil on the coast in northeastern Somalia, while the captured Greek cargo ship, MV Filitsa is anchored offshore (MOHAMED DAHIR/AFP via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:37.0 | Hello and welcome to Witness History from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last |
| 0:46.0 | bringing you more firsthand accounts of moments that have shaped our world. |
| 0:51.0 | And today we go back to 2008 when Somali pirates began to escalate |
| 0:56.4 | attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aidan as we hear the story of one |
| 1:01.5 | captain who was held hostage for 47 days. |
| 1:10.0 | There had been quite a few fishing boats around earlier in the day and you don't necessarily pay much |
| 1:16.2 | attention to them, but then we saw this boat rushing towards us and no normal fishing boat would do that. |
| 1:24.0 | In February 2008, a 70-year-old ship's captain, Colin Darch, and his crew of five. |
| 1:29.7 | One Irishman and four Russians were taking a multi-million dollar tugboat from Russia to a job in |
| 1:35.4 | Singapore. They'd reached the Gulf of Aidan and wary of pirates were keeping 70 miles off the Somali |
| 1:42.3 | coast. |
| 1:43.0 | But then we saw this fast plastic boat approaching with five |
| 1:47.8 | gunman with dark faces and heads swathed in rags. |
| 1:53.0 | And so we sort of flew into action, center May Day, |
| 1:56.6 | general alarm bells, and got ready to repel borders. |
| 2:01.3 | The tug was only about 100 foot long and not fast so could not outrun the skiff, but it was |
... |
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