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Terror below deck: How I survived a pirate hijack

Marine engineer Chirag Bahri was trapped for eight gruelling months on a chemical tanker, after pirates took the crew hostage off the coast of Somalia.

Indian marine engineer Chirag Bahri loved his job working in the engine rooms of huge commercial ships. But in May 2010, while sailing a chemical tanker through the Gulf of Aden, a group of pirates boarded the ship and held the crew to ransom off the coast of Somalia. Over the next eight months the pirates became increasingly violent, torturing the crew when their demands were not met. Despite the desperate conditions, Chirag still had his work to do. The ship was running out of fuel, and starting to malfunction.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Rebecca Vincent

(Photo: Marine engineer Chirag Bahri in 2005. Credit: Chirag Bahri)

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41 minutes

Last on

Thu 2 Mar 2023 03:06GMT

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