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.