Crew members of the VLCC Heroic Idun are expected to be reunited with their families on Friday following a 10-month Nigerian oil smuggling and piracy ordeal.
One of the 26 seafarers will return home to see a newborn child for the first time, while a second will join his daughter for her fourth birthday celebrations that she has refused to have until she saw him again.
The 300,000-dwt Heroic Idun (built 2020) arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday with the 16 Indians, eight Sri Lankans, a Pole and a Filipino on board after all charges against them were dropped following a plea deal between the Nigerian government and the tanker’s owner.
The government had accused the men of being part of an attempt to lift oil from an offshore platform without authorisation and of filing a false piracy report. The Ray Car Carriers-owned tanker headed further to sea after it was approached by a vessel that crew feared was controlled by pirates but turned out to be a Nigerian naval vessel.
The men were held in Equatorial Guinea for three months before being transferred to Nigeria, where they were due to stand trial.
The charges were dropped after the owners issued a public apology and paid $15m last month. The ship’s owners, insurers and managers have always insisted the crew had done nothing wrong and have been backed by bodies including the International Chamber of Shipping.
The Sailors’ Society, which has been speaking with members of the crew and their families since August last year, said the men have been staying in a Cape Town hotel for debriefing and counselling while travel arrangements have been organised.
“Among those awaiting the return of their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers is Stephania, who should have celebrated her fourth birthday back in November,” Sailors' Society chief executive Sara Baade said.
“Stephania insisted she wouldn’t celebrate her birthday until her dad returned home. At four years old, she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t home sooner to be with her.
“But now both father and daughter can’t wait to be reunited.”
The Sailors’ Society, which provides pastoral and counselling services to seafarers, said the men had only limited contact with their families after their phones were confiscated by the Nigerian authorities while they were held on bail on board the ship off the oil city of Port Harcourt.
The Nigerian authorities also declined to allow a chaplain on board the ship to speak with the men.
Family reunions
Video footage of the crew showed them whooping with joy as they arrived dockside in Cape Town.
Three members of the society’s crisis-response network met the men to start preparing them for the reunion with their families and for possible help in the weeks afterwards when the euphoria of returning home subsides.
Boet van Schalkwyk, a member of the crisis-support team, said: “Though the crew were in good heart, delighted to be free and heading home, they had clearly undergone a dramatic and drawn-out 10-month ordeal.”
