Kidnapped drivers back home
What you need to know:
- Dressed in Red-Simba Logistic Company uniforms, the drivers were received by, among others, their relatives who were all the time anxious to hear what they went through, deputy Foreign Affairs Suzan Kolimba, DRC Ambassador to Tanzania Jeane-Pierre Mutamba, and officials from the company.
Dar es Salaam. An air of sadness engulfed the grounds of Julius Nyerere International Airport VIP lounge yesterday as 10 Tanzanian drivers who were kidnaped by rebels in DRC Congo last week returned home.
Dressed in Red-Simba Logistic Company uniforms, the drivers were received by, among others, their relatives who were all the time anxious to hear what they went through, deputy Foreign Affairs Suzan Kolimba, DRC Ambassador to Tanzania Jeane-Pierre Mutamba, and officials from the company.
The drivers told the journalists during a press briefing at the airport that they went through hell during a 24 hour ordeal, on Wednesday last week. One of the two drivers who managed to escape, Kumbuka Selemani, said when he arrived at the area where the rebels laid their trap he was not aware of what was going on. “I found lots of trucks on the road, and I stopped but suddenly an armed man appeared and ordered me to switch of the truck and get down only to notice that my colleagues had been held captive.”
Realizing what was going on the truck driver behind him tried to reverse and escape but the rebels opened fire. “Seeing the rebels focusing on that truck, I somehow managed to summon courage and fled to a nearby bush and hid there until police arrived,” said Selemani. For Athuman Fadhili, neither the window nor courage to escape came his way, saying that no amount of words could adequately explain the 24 hour incident that was spent trekking in thick forests under tight guard of the armed rebels.
He said that, the hijackers were using the mobile phones of their fellow drivers, one from Kenya and one from Tanzania, to communicate to the police to negotiate for a ransom of USD4000 for each driver.
“They only gave us water once, and we ate ugali. It reached a point when we were so tired that one wished it was preferable to be shot dead, than continue to endure the torture,” he said.
He explained that, ultimately, the police got wind of the kidnap and started pursuiing the militias. He added that there was an exchange of fire. “I managed to hide in the bushes and stayed there until I heard a man telling us to come out of hiding,” he said.
