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Hunting for oil and finding fertilizer

by Our Defence Correspondent
The Chinese sailor’s voice was filled with terror as he screamed into the radio.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is MV Yu Jia. We are being attacked by sea pirates at position...," he shouted.

The Yu Jia, a cargo ship flying the flag of the People’s Republic of China, was 53 nautical miles northeast of Mullaitivu. It was en route from Madras, India, to Aquaba, Jordan’ with a cargo of 9,000 tons of fertilizer.

The ship, with a crew of 34 Chinese, was not due to stop in any Sri Lankan port, and thus stayed far out in international waters, as its course took it round the island. The Yu Jia’s crew was not expecting any problems that day, Saturday, September 25, as they slowly plodded through the vast expanse of ocean. Land was far out of sight.

But suddenly, at 7:30 PM, scarcely after the sun had set, some of the Chinese sailors saw several boats racing towards the ship from all sides.

As the boats came close, they opened fire, a furious barrage of machine gun fire hitting the ship’s hull.

It was at this point that the Chinese captain, shocked by the sudden attack, shouted to his radioman to send a distress call. With scarcely any knowledge of Sri Lanka’s civil war, he could only assume that he was being attacked by sea pirates, whom he assumed were looking for electronic merchandise which some ships carry, like TVs, CD players, cameras and VCRs.

As the distress call went out, one boat fired a rocket-propelled grenade from point blank range. The RPG exploded on the hull, setting the ship on fire.

The captain ordered the engines stopped, and told his crew not to resist. Not that they could have done anything, since they were all unarmed.

As the ship came to a halt a dozen attackers leaped on board from three boats, pointing automatic rifles at the frightened crew, who were cowering on the deck in terror.

Speaking in English, the attackers, members of the elite Sea Tiger wing of the LTTE, demanded to know details of the ship.

The captain quickly explained that it was a Chinese vessel en route from Madras to the Middle East with fertilizer. Take whatever you want and let us go, but don’t harm us, the crew-members pleaded with the Tigers.

The attackers were nonplussed by this and seemed to disbelieve it.

But within a few minutes, a thorough search of the Yu Jia showed them that it was true.

Cursing and red-faced, the Tigers left the ship, boarded their attack boats, and raced away into the darkness, all making a beeline towards the Sri Lankan coast.

The Yu Jia’s crew, traumatized by the attack, couldn’t believe that they were still alive. They quickly doused the small fire on board, and began pumping out the seawater that was spilling in through several holes ripped open in the hull by the gunfire.

But unknown to the Tigers, help was on hand for the Yu Jia and its crew.

Only 20 miles away, the MV Silk Route Supplier, a Sri Lankan flagged tanker, was chugging its way northwards, bound for Kankesanthurai from Colombo with a cargo of precious fuel for the residents of Jaffna.

The Silk Route Supplier had left Colombo alone, but somewhere during the voyage, a flotilla of Sri Lanka Navy gunboats and Dvora Fast Attack Craft (light gunboats), joined, to escort it through the perilous northern waters.

Even with this huge escort, the Silk Route Supplier stayed 50 miles from the coast, as it went past the Tiger-held areas of Mullaitivu.

As the Chinese ship sent out its distress call, it was picked up by radio on the Silk Route Supplier and its escorting warships.

The navy’s eastern headquarters in Trincomalee was immediately informed that a call for help had been received from a Chinese ship that was under attack from a large number of

Although the distress call spoke of sea pirates, the navy men knew immediately that such a strong force of attackers in this corner of the Bay of Bengal, could only be Sea Tigers. Pirates do not venture to this area, preferring to stay closer to major ports, like Colombo.

Quickly, a large number of escort boats were detached from the convoy, and raced at full speed towards the Yu Jia’s location. On their radar screens, the navy men could see the echoes of the Chinese ship and the boats milling around it.

Half an hour after the attack began, as the LTTE craft were leaving the Yu Jia, the naval squadron arrived on the scene.

A fierce battle erupted, with the navy’s cannons booming out across moonlit waters, spitting death at the Tigers. For the navy, it was a golden opportunity, having caught the Sea Tigers far from home.

The LTTE craft fired back, but their guns were smaller and shorter ranged than the navy boats’. However, the large number of LTTE craft made things very dangerous for the naval fast attack craft.

For an incredible eight hours, the battle raged, with the Tigers trying to get back to Mullaitivu, and the naval warships barring their way, intent on destroying them.

Finally, at 4 a.m., the battle had reached a point less than 15 miles from Mullaitivu, and the LTTE boats scattered and made their way individually back to their bases.

But not all of them made it.

It is believed that four of the Sea Tiger craft were sunk, with several more being damaged. At least 20 Tiger cadres are believed to have been killed.

On the naval side, one fast attack craft was damaged by gunfire. But there were no casualties.

Meanwhile, other navy boats reached the Yu Jia, and escorted it to Trincomalee. One Chinese sailor, wounded by LTTE gunfire, was rushed to hospital. The Yu Jia is likely to be patched up, and return to Madras for proper repairs.

Doubtless, the Chinese sailors were happy to get away from the dubious hospitality of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Tigers have frequently attacked merchant ships of other countries, for travelling through the Mullaitivu waters, which they claim belong to the so-called state of Eelam. But there was no excuse for the attack on the Yu Jia, which took place far away from the international 12-mile limit for any nation’s territorial waters.

It is believed that the Tigers were actually lying in ambush for the Silk Route Supplier, and the RPG attack was meant to start a fire that would set the cargo of oil ablaze.

Of course, the Tigers must be most unhappy that they picked the wrong ship, turning the ambush into a comedy that ended in tragedy for them, when the naval warships arrived.

Certainly, losing four boats and more than 20 cadres, simply to frighten a few Chinese out of the wits, can’t be a battle that the Sea Tigers will cherish. More likely, they will want to forget the entire incident as soon as possible.

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