Maldives Mercenaries Kill 2 Hostages, Ship Captain Says

Mercenaries involved in a Maldives coup attempt have killed two hostages aboard a commandeered freighter and wired the ship with explosives, the skipper of the vessel said today.

The mercenaries threatened to kill 25 other hostages unless pursuing Indian navy warships let them sail unhindered to Sri Lanka, Capt. Jaya Davan of the 5,000-ton Progress Light said in a ship-to-shore interview.

The two bodies were tossed into the Indian Ocean, he said, “so the Indian navy can see they (hijackers) mean business.”

‘We Warned Them’

When asked why the hostages were shot, the captain said, “We warned them (Indian ships) so many times, but they did not listen.”

The hostages were seized when the gunmen, believed to have been recruited in Sri Lanka, attacked the capital of the Maldives--a group of coral islands in the Indian Ocean about 400 miles south of Sri Lanka--before dawn last Thursday and tried to topple the government.

One group of mercenaries seized the freighter and fled following a day of fighting after India flew 1,600 paratroopers into Male, the capital, to crush the rebellion.

Indians Open Fire

The vessel was damaged when Indian forces opened fire as it tried to slip unnoticed out of Male’s harbor early Friday morning.

Asked what the mercenaries wanted, the captain said: “They should be free without any interference from Sri Lankan and Indian navy. They want to go to Sri Lanka.

“They have threatened to kill all the hostages one by one if the Indian ships come closer or start firing. The organization behind all this has also wired the ship with explosives,” he said.

He said the two hostages killed were foreigners but said that the hijackers had forbidden him to disclose their nationalities. He could not talk freely during the interview.

Seven of the 27 hostages aboard the freighter are foreigners, according to a Maldives government official. They included two Swiss and several Filipinos.