Maldives Attackers Give Up, Surrender Ship to India Navy

A freighter carrying armed mercenaries fleeing a failed coup in the Maldives surrendered to the Indian navy this morning, an Indian spokesman said.

He gave no details as to the condition of at least 27 hostages aboard the 5,000-ton Progress Light, which was commandeered by gunmen after a failed attempt to take over the Maldives--a group of coral islands in the Indian Ocean about 400 miles south of Sri Lanka.

“We have nothing to say yet on the hostages,” said the Indian spokesman, adding that the Progress Light had been taken over by the Indian navy frigate Godavari.

It was not clear whether any of an estimated 400 mercenaries who tried to topple Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom were still at large.

Earlier today, the skipper of the vessel reported that two hostages had been killed and that the ship was wired with explosives.

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

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

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

The captain’s report on the shooting of the hostages could not be independently confirmed.

The hostages were seized after the gunmen, believed to have been recruited in Sri Lanka, attacked the capital of the Maldives before dawn last Thursday.

One group of mercenaries seized the freighter and fled following a day of fighting with 1,600 Indian paratroopers who were flown into Male, the capital, to crush the rebellion.

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.