Ten men armed with one gun and several cutlasses carried out the April 27th piracy attack off of Suriname, according to one of the survivors.
During the ambush, the survivor, Anil Lall, 18, of Marienburg, Suriname said he witnessed his captain and two fellow fishermen being badly beaten and tossed overboard with batteries strapped to their legs.
According to Lall, the pirates carried out the attack from a fishing boat similar to their own. The survivor, who was reluctant to speak, said that he might be able to identify the boat. However, a relative who spoke with this newspaper, noted that Lall has since spoken with the police in Suriname, relaying whatever he knew.
The lad reportedly told his relative that the men showed no mercy for them during the attack, as they beat them about their bodies repeatedly, while ordering them to transfer their catch onto the pirates’ boat.
However, the relative noted, that while the lad is “doing good now” he is still traumatized by the attack, as he continues to be fearful for his life since he witnessed the men beating and chopping his captain, who he knew as “Brick Mouth.” The hijackers tied batteries to the captain’s legs with ropes and then dumped him overboard.
The pirates also thrashed two more fishermen on the said boat and also strapped batteries to their legs and tossed them overboard.
According to the young survivor, the men thrashed him and Marvin severely, however, they were not thrown overboard, but were left lying unconscious in their boat, as the pirates made good their escape.
Marvin sustained injuries to his body with the most severe being a chop to his head. He has since received stitches and is nursing his injuries at his residence in, Meerzorg Suriname. Lall, who sustained injuries and wounds on his back, head and arm is also recuperating at his residence in Suriname.
Sunday Stabroek was told that Lall and Marvin were rescued by passing vessels who brought them to shore. Two of the other survivors have been identified as Daramdrew Persaud and Sherwin Lovell, 42, both Guyanese, also live and work in Suriname. Lovell has recounted details of the attack similar to Lall’s.
He told reporters in Suriname that the pirates had told the crew that they were there to “kill”, however, it was after they started to beat one of his fellow fishermen that he realized that they actually meant what they said.
This is what led Lovell to make the plunge into the ocean with no certainty of being rescued. His main thought at that time was to escape the reach of the pirates, who were seemingly out for blood.
According to Lovell, the men on his boat were at the time pulling up their catch when the pirates launched their vicious attack. A warning shot was first fired, after which the pirates boarded their boat. He noted that he was at the back of the boat taking out the catch when the perpetrators approached him and started to deal him lashes about his body.