Coastal Vizhinjam witnessed a touching family reunion on Monday when a 43-year-old seaman, who was detained in Yemen for almost ten months, returned home to his wife and three sons.
Abdul Vahab Musthaba was among 14 Indians who were held by Houthi rebels, reportedly, in Sana’a. Released on November 28, Mr. Musthaba reunited with his wife Shanifa Beevi, sons Mohammed Shahid, Mohammed Shan, and Abdul Vahab, and his 65-year-old mother Umaifa on Monday afternoon.
A second Keralite in the group, Praveen Thammakarantavida of Vadakara, also returned safely on Monday.
Mr. Musthaba had left Kerala on January 29 for Oman where he was employed with a private company as a ‘jankar’ captain. On February 3, he and the other Indians left Masirah Island with a convoy of three ships for the Red Sea port of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia on February 3.
Rough weather
The passengers were mostly contract workers bound for Saudi Arabia, according to Mr. Musthaba. Midway, the convoy ran into rough weather and one of the vessels sank. “The passengers were rescued and we resumed the voyage,” he says. But they again hit rough weather in the Red Sea one-and-a-half days later, close to the Yemen-Saudi border.
“We were just four or five hours away from Saudi Arabia. The convoy captain, an Egyptian, said we would not have problems with Yemeni authorities as we had dropped anchor 20 nautical miles away from their coast,” Mr. Musthaba recalls.
But their ordeal began when they were detained, reportedly on February 14, by a group that initially identified itself as the navy, he says.
Held in a hotel
“But later on, it became clear that they were Houthis,” according to him. “They took us to the Salif port. At first, we were told that we would be released soon. But we were taken to Sana’a where we were held in a hotel. We have been there ever since,” says Mr. Musthaba.
The men were provided food, but were not permitted to contact their families at first. “That was the situation for about two months. Then they allowed us to talk to our families for five minutes over mobile phone. That was how the people back home got to know of our plight,” he says.
Efforts to get the Indians released began once the Indian Embassy in Yemen was alerted.
The 14 men were finally released on November 28. Mr. Musthaba and Mr. Praveen flew to Mumbai via Dubai. On Monday, they landed at the Kannur international airport where Mr. Musthaba was met by his younger brother Abdul Vahid.
Incidentally, in the initial days of their detention, the men were scarcely aware of the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They became aware of the extent of its global spread only when they were allowed to contact their families, says Mr. Musthaba. “Luckily, none of us were infected while we were in Yemen,” he says.