Families despair for kidnapped sailors

Kanyakumari: The condition of nineteen sailors who were kidnapped by Somali pirates last week is still not known. An old couple at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu is waiting for their only son. They are asking the Centre to do something fast to bring the sailors back.

Anxious parents waiting for a call from their only son Iyappan, who was kidnapped by Somali pirates off East Africa en-route to Belgium a week ago.

Iyappan is among the 19 Indian sailors and three other nationals were taken hostage and his parents have written to Overseas Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi to intervene.

"Please rescue not only my son, but all nineteen Indians," says Paramarthalingam, Iyappan's father.

"The last time he called me was while moving from Bombay to Gujarat to board the ship...I have not heard from him since," says Iyappan's mother, P Rajammal.

Sources say the Centre is negotiating through the German shipping company and the Embassy in Kenya.

Over a hundred Indian sailors have been abducted and released in the past after payment of ransom to the Somali pirates. It is a huge threat to international shipping. But for families of hostages it is an agony they have to go through.