Sri Lankan guerillas hold foreign crew at their base

Sri Lankan guerillas hold foreign crew at their base

COLOMBO (AFP): Tamil Tiger guerrillas are holding the two
Indonesians and seven local crew members abducted from a Sri
Lankan ferry at a northwestern rebel base, officials said
yesterday.

Intercepts of radio communications by the separatist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) indicated they were
holding the nine-member crew at one of their bases at
Vidattaltivu, official sources said.

The report came as concern mounted for the crew of the MV
Misen, the ferry that was set ablaze by Tiger guerrillas off the
island's northwestern coast Tuesday morning.

Owners of the 500-seater vessel have asked the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which operates in areas held by
the LTTE to secure their freedom.

"We are still awaiting some news from the ICRC," a spokesman
for the ship's owner said. "Our main concern is the crew. We
think it will take some time for the ICRC to get in touch with
the local LTTE leaders."

The defense ministry said another civilian ferry alerted the
security forces to the attack on the MV Misen but as navy gun
boats approached the area, the Tigers escaped together with the
crew.

The navy was providing escort to the second ferry, the Tharaki
II, which is also used to transport Tamil civilians from the
northwestern district of Mannar to the Jaffna peninsula in the
north of the country.

The attackers torched the MV Misen as it prepared to take 300
passengers to Jaffna as part of the government's effort to re-
settle Tamil civilians displaced by fighting there in 1995, the
ministry said.

"This act of terrorism has inconvenienced the displaced
civilians as it retards the speed of ferrying them back to
Jaffna," the ministry said.

The 500-seater MV Misen was skippered by an Indonesian, Nang
Hadi and his chief engineer was also an Indonesian identified as
Imam Wahyudi, the owner of the vessel said.