South Korean sailors who were recently freed by Somali pirates said on Monday that they were locked up in cages and treated like animals for nearly two years. Park Hyun-yeol, captain of the MT Gemini, a tanker highjacked by Somali pirates on April 30, 2011, said he and his three Korean crewmates survived 582 days by filtering bugs and worms from rain water with their undershirts.

“We were put in a cage and lived like animals. The only human thing we were allowed to do was use the toilet,” he said in a satellite phone interview with Yonhap News Agency. Taking a bath was impossible under constant watch by Somali pirates. They wiped their bodies with a small piece of wet towel and tried to sleep, he added.

Park and the three others ― chief engineer Kim Hyeong-eon, chief mate Lee Geon-il and engineer Lee Sang-hoon ― were released on Saturday after ransom talks between the Singapore-based owner of the MT Gemini and the pirates made a breakthrough. The pirates freed the vessel and other non-Korean crew in November 2011. They held on to the four Koreans, demanding the release of their colleagues serving prison terms in South Korea in exchange.

The four arrived in Mombasa, a port city of Kenya, on Monday, on a South Korean Navy vessel that operates in Somali waters as part of a multinational anti-piracy campaign. They are expected to take a direct flight from Nairobi to Incheon on Tuesday as soon as they go through a quick medical checkup, officials at the Foreign Ministry said. The sailors are in relatively good health, but suffer from skin diseases and mental stress. All four lost about 10 kilograms but didn’t show signs of malnutrition, officials said.

When asked of the most difficult moment, Park said when the pirates threatened their families by making them scream or firing warning shots during phone calls.

“My heart aches when think of how (our) families felt,” he said.

They also expressed gratitude to Koreans and the Korean government, adding that the first thing they wanted to eat was kimchi.

The release of the sailors ends a series of incidents of Somali piracy targeting Koreans. Since 2006, about nine cases of South Korean registered vessels and Koreans aboard foreign ships captured by Somali pirates have been reported. No Korean has died during negotiations or rescue operations so far. Seok Hae-kyun of the MV Samho Jewelry was seriously injured during the rescue operation, but survived with emergency medical help.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)