This ship and its crew have been held by Somali pirates for nearly a thousand days. One crew member has committed suicide by jumping overboard and no one knows what condition the remaining 22 sailors are in. In desperation, the Somali government turned to South African mercenaries. Drastic action was needed. I think we got dealing with professional soldiers and all ethical, but where the brutality comes in is the efficiency of the unit. >> Working with the police, the mercenaries have a simple plan. Attack the pirates and rescue the surviving hostages. >> They must fire on the ship. >> They must fire on the ship with the douchy. with exclusive footage taken by the mercenaries themselves. This is the incredible story of how the world's longest hijack was brought to a dramatic and violent end. >> I'm speaking to my family. I am not dead and I know by the grace of God I will not die. It's the 10th of December, 2012, and the Iceberg 1 is out of fuel and run ground since September 2011. The Somali pirates, who hijacked the ship almost three years before, are demanding an $8 million ransom. But no one is willing to pay. The owners of the ship, AAL Shipping, based in the United Arab Emirates, immediately disowned it, leaving the ship and crew to the mercy of the pirates. With no end in sight, a group of South African execial forces have been hired to lead the Somali police and assault on the ship. The police have never taken part in such an operation before. And with the remaining 22 crew members possibly still alive, the risks are massive. Launched in the late '7s, the Iceberg 1 is a Panameanian flagged container ship owned by AAL Shipping in Dubai. It was carrying a cargo of mechanical equipment from Yemen to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. A routine job for her 24 member crew consisting of nationals from Yemen, India, Ghana, Sudan, Pakistan, and the Philippines. On March the 29th, 2010, less than a week into her voyage, she entered the Gulf of Aiden. >> The Gulf of Aiden was the main route that ships took either going into or coming out of uh the entrance to the Red Sea, which then led onto the Sewish Canal. In any one year, there will be in excess of 20,000 ships passing through the Gulf of Aiden. Only 10 nautical miles away from the port of Aiden, she was hijacked by Somali pirates. Using small fiberglass skiffs launched from a mother ship, they quickly approached the iceberg 1, attacking it with bullets and rocket propelled grenades for 30 minutes before storming on board. Unarmed, the crew was powerless to fight back. They only just had time to make desperate phone calls home. In footage shot by the pirates themselves, the crew led by 72-year-old Captain Ali Saler from Yemen are petrified. This is the nightmare facing any crew sailing close to the Gulf of Aiden. >> It's pretty simple stuff. They've got enough equipment and weapons that they can sufficiently frighten a unarmed ship. And the guys got no choice. They're not they're not solders. They're not kitted out to fight. Skipper has to surrender. guys come on board and uh then they start the ransom procedure. >> Since the start of the Somalian civil war in 1991, the country has been lawless and directionless with 19 different governments attempting to assert control. In 1993, the United States tried to intervene, but the incident that would later become known as Blackhawk Down, saw 18 US soldiers killed, 73 injured and effectively ended any further appetite for intervention. The anarchy and gang violence which followed created the ideal breeding ground for piracy. The fact that Somalia has been a lawless land for the past 30 or so years means that the pirates can operate with almost impunity off their own coast. >> Piracy is a symptom. The problem is the lack of effective government, the lack of effective rule of law in Somalia itself. Some of the executive outcomes guys were up in Somalia 93 94 and these people were sitting around saying well you know we're being illegally fished and there were all these foreign boats out there. So the guys said oh no well this is simple what you do is you go out there and arrest the boats and then you kind of ransom them back to their owners because they're illegally fishing. And the Somali said ah that's that's a really good idea. We're going to try that. They started an industry. They started two industries because we have the pirate industry and we have the counterpirate industry. Natural disasters, illegal fishing and dumping drove more and more Somali to piracy. >> The concept evolved and they decided that they could take bigger ships. holding the crew for ransom and then negotiating good ransoms became the way that Somali piracy worked. >> It's an extremely effective business model. It's organized crime in an area where it's difficult to deal with organized crime. >> Over 5 years, piracy increased rapidly. In 2005, just three ships were taken. In 2010, there were 117. And this is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. We have to ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable. >> In an effort to protect commercial vessels from pirate attack, the United Nations organized military vessels from its member states to begin special antipiriracy patrols. But this was not enough. >> You have 5 million square kilometers of ocean. It's an enormous area. The naval coalition forces have somewhere between 12 to 15 warships at sea. It's like trying to police the whole of Europe with 12 police cars limited to 16 mph. >> Okay, let's go. Go ahead. Warning shot. >> Unable to rely on protection from UN naval forces, the shipping companies decided to fight back themselves. Private maritime security companies were quickly established, employing teams of mercenaries to defend vessels from the pirates. Good. >> The pirates are maybe five or six men in something that's not much more than a motorboat and they do not want to take on four trained people with the right equipment. They really don't. Now, that costs, let's say, $30 to $40,000, which isn't really very much money to save a ship and a crew and all the rest of it. >> Ordinary cargo vessels were now commonly equipped with extraordinary defenses. The reality is that as soon as proper armed teams went on board the ships, it it stopped. It has stopped it. And I don't think there's a single instance of a a ship being taken by the pirates who has a you know properly constituted armed team on board. >> Fewer and fewer ships dared run the gauntlet of the Gulf of Aiden without adding such deterrence. But Aal shipping, the owners of Iceberg 1 had added nothing to protect their ship and crew. After 2 months, food supplies had run out, and the hostages pleas for help from their employers or their government were ignored. No one was willing to help. As this footage shows, it was the crew that suffered. >> They keep us in this room. In this room, not more than 5 m. 23 people stay there. How you see how they treat us here like animals this is not life human being this is like animals always they are shooting the guns if the one man go toilet and he about 3 minutes they start shooting gun to make the crew is too much scare so no good food no good we only using sea water they give us about three liter we drink it for 3 days The iceberg was moved within 12 mi of Somalia's coast, outside the jurisdiction of international law. This was a readymade holding pen for pirated vessels, a zone safe from interference and close enough to shore for the pirates to receive supplies and changes of personnel from their allies on land. On the 1st of November, day 218 of their ordeal, and with no ransom payment forthcoming, the traumatized crew were permitted to send messages to the outside world. I'm speaking to my family that I am still alive. I am not dead and I know by the grace of God I will not die. >> Please kindly with due respect and with one grief we are grieving. Please >> we are appealing to the international community to the UN to come to our aid because we are really suffering here. Just find someone, form a committee to negotiate with this parade so that we can gain our freedom. >> On the 29th of March 2010, the Iceberg 1 cargo vessel was captured in the Gulf of Aiden. Over 7 months later, the crew was confined to a small cabin with scant food supplies and water taken from the sea or the air conditioning system. And there was no chance at the ransom demand of $8 million would be paid. Azal shipping. The vessel's owners had abandoned their men, even going so far as denying they owned the ship. The situation for Ali Muhammad Khan, the ship's chief engineer, and his colleagues seemed hopeless. >> The ownership of this of this vessel has neglected everything. He has neglected the crew, the vessel, and everything with no owners and nobody to look after us. What will be our situation? >> The pirates were violent. the ship in disrepair and the crew mourning the suicide of their third officer, Waji Akram. What the hostages didn't know is that the solution to their plight was at that moment being put into place in the most unlikely of locations, Somalia itself. The Puntland region to the north of the country has its own government and security forces and its president Abduraman Muhammad Farel had begun to rebuild a military from scratch. For training and support, they turned to South African mercenaries, including helicopter pilot Arthur Walker. Arthur, a veteran of the South African military, fought as a mercenary for over 20 years in civil wars such as Angola and Sierra Leone. But the Puntland government knew they could not recruit mercenaries. So instead, they bought in an official private military company. I was invited in February 2011 by a new group that I hadn't heard of, a company called Sar International. >> Sar had a shady past with links to the original soldier of fortune outfit, Executive Outcomes, and more recently the American mercenary kingpin, Eric Prince, the founder of the biggest private security company in the world, the infamous Blackwater. I I think when you talk about the organizations that I've been involved in, everybody has been specially selected for their skills and for the experience and the motivation to want to go and operate in these countries. I think we consider ourselves completely different to a United Nations force that just gets sent into an area and the soldiers are not really motivated to be there for so long. And in African countries affected by civil war, there was continuous demand for their services. >> Having a a force with the right equipment, a specialized force, all these problems could be resolved very quickly by bringing in a private military army and very cost effective. Somali piracy had now become such an epidemic that Puntland had set up a world first, a dedicated antipiriracy police, the Puntland Maritime Police Force or PMPF. >> I was recruited to go there. When I landed there, we started uh building the Puntland Maritime Police Force. >> Sam Kuunda was part of the first contingent of mercenaries to fly to Puntland. We went Bosaso 5 kilos from Bosaso. That's where we build our Puntland Maritan Police Force base. It took us a while though. It took us 6 months to to to complete the whole wall and get to set up and put in all the trucks. >> With the base completed, a shipment of trucks, containers, and military equipment arrived, donated by the United Arab Emirates. a visible sign to the local population that the PMPF had the support of international governments. Although these supplies would be essential, it was the Somali recruits themselves that the operation hinged on. >> They were so slim, you know, it's hard because they were slim. You can see these people if we train them like the way I trained, we kill them. But we use our skills though to take care of them and uh use our skills and train them slowly but sure feeding them nice to become strong and we start training them. By the time we left they were professional. This was a serious and concentrated effort by Somalia to combat the humiliating hijackings taking place along its shoreline. Hijacking had even spread beyond cargo vessels or oil tankers. In 2010, a Danish family, the Johanssons, were sailing around the world in a 40ft yacht when they were attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean. It was held for 7 months before being released for a million dollars. The Johanssons were the victims of an influential pirate warlord by the name of Isi Ulux. Ulux had a well-armed militia of over 70 men and was one of the most well-known pirate leaders operating in Somalia. The PMPF knew that Ulux would be a significant scalp. They had information telling them he and his men were camped in the town of Bali Diddin, deep within the Horn of Africa. With the few roads being too dangerous to consider in pirate country, they turned to Arthur Walker to fly over the town. With him, fellow South African mercenary Ralph Vanheden. Van Heden served in the secretive civil cooperation bureau, a state sponsored assassination squad during South Africa's apartheid era. After the handover of power to the ANC, he found freelance work during the civil wars in Angola and Sierra Leone with the notorious executive outcomes before being recruited by Sarat International on behalf of the Puntland government. >> He set up this whole Puntland police operation and controlled it from the top quietly, discreetly, very effectively, disciplined and got the results he was looking for. Their mission was to locate and destroy some armed jeeps owned by Isi Ulux. Late in the afternoon, they approached from the south. Unable to identify the compound, they swung around and approached again from the north. It's then they started to take fire from the ground. Gunner Andrew immediately returned fire. Andrew pointed out the source of the fire to Ralph, wanting the helicopter to turn. It's now they located the trucks a private military company particularly the ones that I've been involved in there there's none of this gung-ho brutal that doesn't happen um I think we got dealing with professional soldiers and all ethical But where the brutality comes in is the efficiency of the unit. That when the target has been identified, the planning is done, the logistics is completed, briefing is done, training done, and they strike. They strike hard. Using the air power that we've got is deadly in these circumstances in Africa. EKF heavy fire. >> Some reports state that one pirate was killed during this mission. Another states that six pirates as well as civilians were left dead. For Arthur, Ralph, and the SARS team, it was mission accomplished. And having proved themselves, they could now be entrusted with something bigger and better. The retaking of Iceberg 1. It's late 2012. The crew of the Iceberg 1 has now been held captive together for over 2 and 1/2 years. Arthur's first job is to take a wrecky flight over the ship to look for signs of life. Only one pirate is photographed. The crew, if they are still alive, are kept out of sight. >> It's now that Arthur is briefed on their ordeal. >> The pirates were told that there was gold and diamonds on board the ship, and that was their motivation to go and hijack it. During this period of 3 years, the pirates had cut open any cupboard containers. They cut open everything on that board that ship looking for the gold and diamonds. And they were torturing the the the sailors and particularly the chief engineer so that he could tell them where the stuff was hidden. >> But there was no gold or diamonds. No matter how brutal their treatment and conditions, the crew couldn't give the pirates what they didn't have. Something drastic needed to be done. On the coast of Somalia, South African mercenaries have joined forces with the Puntland Maritime Police Force to free hostages held captive for 33 months on board the Iceberg One. They are preparing to attack with the same fiberglass skiffs the pirates used. This is the first time a pirated vessel would be attacked by skiff. They are learning on the job. They will soon discover that these craft are precarious, difficult to control, and don't take well to rough conditions. For the first sea-based operation the PMPF are to undertake, this is uncharted territory, and no one can predict the outcome. The PMPF's blue vehicles are conspicuous in a country where many have sympathy for the pirates and share in the profit from their actions. Arthur's helicopter is a further sign that a rescue attempt is imminent. But the real risks lie with the Somali men who have chosen to join up and fight their pirate countrymen. >> The whole operation was conducted by the Somali with a couple of experts advising. R who commanded the ground forces, Alex from Russia, then our medic Brandon was South African and the rest were Somalis. It's 5:30 a.m. and within sight of the Iceberg 1, the men of the PMPF now have to put all they have learned into practice. >> The pirates on board the Iceberg were holed up in the bridge and we weren't sure where the hostages were being kept >> or whether they are even on board at all. skiff is still here. What we will do is we will start firing some shots and and maybe see whether there's there might be reaction from from the pirates or from somebody from the ship. Maybe they don't know about us. It's still early in the morning. >> Ralph Van Heden, commander of the operation, takes us through their intentions on the first morning. >> It's still early morning. It's prior to 6. Still not hour yet, but our troops are in position. Both SKS there. >> Yes, both SKs >> with us. We had three Dska, which is your 12.7 caliber mounted on the back of the Land Cruiser vehicles. And we also had the light machine gun, the PKM, which is 762. >> If they're going to maintain the element of surprise, they need to act fast. >> I think we must fire a Air just >> as one young PMPF unwraps a rocket propelled grenade, the troops are in for a nasty surprise. The pirates are awake and waiting. The tracer fire lights up the morning sky. The bullets strike the shore centimeters from the troops legs, sending them scattering. >> The South African commander knows exactly what they must do. They must fire on the ship. They must fire on the ship with the DKA. No fire on the ship. >> The Dookska machine gun has jammed. Suddenly, the PMPF's lack of experience and training has them all badly exposed. The mission has quickly become much more difficult and dangerous. >> Initially, the pirates fired at us. They started the fight with us. We were just there to go and assess the situation and our task was to rescue hostages. And on the first morning, the pirates actually fired at our group mainly with a PKM and deadly accurate fire. where they damaged quite a few of our vehicles over a distance of about 700 m and obviously we had to retaliate. We are making a plan now how to approach this ship from various sides supporters from the land, support us from the air and coming from the sea with with one boat which will put 20 men on top of the boat and then from there we will start clearing uh the resistance that there is. There shouldn't be many of them, but this is what we are expecting to do. >> With incoming fire, the troops need air support. And this is where Arthur Walker is in his element. >> He takes a wrecky flight in an old Alawette helicopter over the ship and decides to remind the pirates that entering into a firefight is to play a dangerous game. >> It's just an absolutely enormous difference. anyone trying to do anything, I think, on foot, um, becomes dread dreadfully aware of their vulnerability the moment they know there's something up there, even if actually that aircraft can't see them and can't in fact interdict them. It's it it's a sort of it's a psychological thing as much as anything else. So, it's a massive multiplier. Returning to the coast, these photos show the amount of ammunition fired on the iceberg, and the South Africans are happy. >> Yeah, it's a tough day. Things were not uh 100% correct, but still the harm was there, the drive was there, and I think it went extremely well. >> The pirates fire is so accurate, the troops have moved their base to higher ground, out of sight and out of range. So, we came to this high ground and it's actually just a few dunes. So, we unloaded. The troops are resting, cleaning weapons. And the troops are tired. Look at this guy. He's sleeping. >> The PNPF and South Africans have to reassess what they hoped to be a far simpler mission. As a mark of how they underestimated the pirates, they're also low on ammunition. >> And we are running out of ammunition. We will be sending the helicopter to Ireland and see if they can do some replenishment. Arthur takes to the air to collect more hardware from the nearby town of Eel. Within two hours, he is back with more PKM machine guns, bullets, and a new barrel for the jammed and melted dooska. With dusk drawing in, they must wait until the next morning before they can attempt anything. They still have no idea how much firepower the pirates have left. But it wasn't fire from the pirates on board the ship they should have been concerned about. >> Okay. Uh yeah, the situation is that is under control at the moment. >> Earlier that morning, a group of seven pirates from the nearby town of Garisad attacked the troops as they slept. Three of the pirates were killed. One escaped, but three were captured. >> As the three men are stripped and led to a police van, the South African mercenaries speak to them before they are driven away. What's your name? >> Again, >> what's your name? >> Oh, yeah. And you? >> See, >> say, you're playing a dangerous game. You You must be fortunate. You're alive. With plenty of weaponry, the PMPF decided to launch an all-out assault on the Iceberg One. With the hostages still on board, they opened fire with everything they have, spraying the iceberg with heavy machine gun fire. The pirates didn't fire back, but nor did they surrender. The tense stalemate continues. Late in the afternoon and still without any response, Arthur Walker takes to the air to get a better look. But this does provoke a response and the pirates opened fire. These photos show how lucky Arthur is to be alive. There are several bullet holes in the helicopter windows. One even hit the passenger seat. The troops and South Africans knew that waiting was no longer an option. Snipers were brought forward to try and take out some of the pirates. They fired us from inside the portals, so you could never actually see any of the pirates themselves, but the fire was coming out from so the only thing we could do um was fire back into the port holes. >> But it's the pirates who draw first blood. >> Are they firing back at us? From their well-concealed positions and from a distance of 700 m, they managed to shoot three PMPF, all of whom survived. For many of them, this is their first taste of real combat. >> Was this type of operation ever done before in in Somalia in Africa? No, this is the first type of operation is never never easy. Arthur flies the casualties back to Eel. Everyone is frustrated the progress has been so slow and the stalemate looks set to continue. Then word from on board the ship gives the mercenaries and the PMPF all the clearance they need. We had communication, cell phone communication with the pirates, but via the their sponsors or their investors. And their initial reaction was that they were going to fight to the death. They didn't care what happened to them, but they were going to fight to the death before they released any of these hostages. That was exactly the message, and that's why we were not too concerned about eventually bombarding them. They launch an all-out assault from the beach and air and the iceberg is pelted with the full force of the troops arsenal. >> The intention was to to put uh five to 10 of our soldiers um to climb up on board and board the ship but under uh fire or covering fire from the land and from the air. We had a single PKM machine gun on the Alawette. >> It's very difficult if you're on the ground to try and counter a helicopter gunship firing at you. He's more mobile. He's got you in his sights. You firing up at him. That's inaccurate. You're going to get hit. There's no question. >> In what looked like a desperate move, the PMPF approached the ship on three skiffs. The pirates fire wildly, determined not to let the troops near them. Bullets land perilously close to the tiny unarmored boat, but the PMPF keeps speeding forward. Once close to the hull, they are safe from the pirates fire, but now faced the challenge of getting on board. They had planned to do this using ladders they brought with them. From the beach, a South African mercenary has spotted movement on the deck. But that's not the only problem. Is the ladder not long enough? >> But uh the sea conditions were very rough and initially we couldn't get the length of the ladder right to to hook onto the railings. >> Totally unaware that the ladder was too short, a second skiff makes the charge for the icebergs hull, but the rough waters cause one of the troops to be thrown overboard, exposed to enemy fire. All the troops on the beach can do is fire desperately at the port holes, trying to offer support. The first skiff prepares to make its escape, forcing the second skiff to do the same. Bullets continue to hit the water all around them. All three skiffs retreat, but not without loss. One of the PMPF troops has been hit and killed. The first fatality the PMPF have suffered. And they are still no closer to freeing the hostages. On the coast of Somalia, the newly established Puntland Maritime Police Force is doing battle with a pirate force on board the cargo ship Iceberg 1 in a bid to free the 22 hostages on board. To help them, they've called upon legendary helicopter pilot Arthur Walker and a team of South African mercenaries. >> We found that the effectiveness, we weren't doing anything dramatic to the pirates. So, we decided to bring in a heavier caliber missile. >> The Soviet built B10 recoilless rifle is a weapon that can certainly penetrate the ship's steel. And although it has a range of over 4,000 meters, its effective accuracy is only 400. It was also missing its sights. Deciding to aim through the breach, the PMPF decided the Iceberg 1 was a big enough target. Ultimately, they brought managed to find a B10 rocket launcher or recoilless rifle. It's about 100 mm caliber and uh that managed to make a few holes, you know, through the, you know, the thick steel of the bridge head. >> At 7 foot long, this anti-tank weapon will have no problem penetrating a cargo ship. Photographs taken later show how one of the shells fired from the B10 went straight through the thick steel walls of the ship. Finally, the pirates resolve is broken. Terrified, some of them attempt to flee in their skiffs. But after taking fire from Arthur, one sinks and the pirates are forced back to the ship. They hadn't received any supplies of fresh water and uh food. And so they started, you know, feeding the feeding the pinch. Also they were used to getting their daily um cut which is a a mild narcotic that they they chew. So after 12 days they was we basically starved them out and uh eventually they decided to succumb and we exchanged the first two hostages who were wounded or or very badly in bad health. and we exchanged the first two for a bag of sugar and some tea. So, we sent a boat in and uh they lowered the two hostages down the the ladder and uh we took them back to the shore, back to safety. And then we we immediately flew them back to our base where they got full medical treatment that night. >> Welcome to freedom. >> Thank you. >> 25-year-old Indian crew member Swapnil Japad was shot right through his ankle during the attack. >> He is so relieved or exhausted that he doesn't seem to care. Sorry man. >> Yes, >> but we had to do this to get you free. >> Yes. >> It begins to become clear what conditions were like on board. >> Water is but they no give us >> no >> what we collect from the rain. >> This uh one gives 3 days. >> Three days. >> Arthur flies them away for medical attention. For them it's the end of a terrifying ordeal. Leaving the coast, they pass the ship that has been their prison for nearly a thousand days. >> The pirates know they can't compete with the two recoilless rifles and they are now ready to surrender. >> Representatives of the pirates, elders, and tribal leaders meet the PMPF on the beach to negotiate. >> This is the crazy thing about the piracy in Somalia. the the investors actually had communication with the pirates on board plus the pirates that were in the area in the in the nearest town there and they in turn would phone our police commissioner and uh so we had a a full circle of communication directly with the pirates. >> One of the negotiators is father to two of the pirates. He pleads with his sons and urges the rest of the pirates to release the remaining hostages. If they agree, they will be allowed to leave without coming under fire. Finally, the negotiations succeed. The pirates will be allowed to return home without being charged. But after holding the Iceberg One for almost 3 years, they will not receive any ransom. Their mission complete, the troops board the Iceberg 1 and get to see what conditions were like for the hostages. >> The hostages were held for 3 years on board, basically in a very large cabin, but completely cramped. They had very li limited food. A lot of them were tortured. The the chief engineer was badly tortured. They they cut off both his ears that were hanging loose down here. They beat him up with a metal pipe and damaged his left leg in particular. The hostages free at last are overcome with emotion. It was the most amazing thing that after 3 years of confinement they they looked generally in good condition, fair health and it just goes to show that the mentality of these sailors and their self-disipline how they managed to preserve themselves and keep themselves in the best condition that they did. every single hostage when they touched the ground they started praying and thanking the Lord whether they were Muslim or Christian and it was just the most wonderful experience that all the time that we'd worked there and sweated. It was just so rewarding just to to see the faces of those hostages that had been released after 3 years of torture. It made it all worthwhile. It's now that the PMPF realized that these men were positioned by the pirates in the rooms on the outer perimeter of the ship as human shields. On the 10th of December, early morning, I was about to pray and all of a sudden there was a gunshot and uh it was really brutal and all of us were hiding for cover. The bullets were flying. There was so much bombard bombardment, bullets flying over. We were lying down all over. In fact, uh we spent 3 years, but the last 13 days was really a a war. Initially, we don't know who were coming to save us. We thought they were coming to destroy all of us. And finally, on the 13th day, everything became calm. This is the end of a brutal ordeal for these men. They were saved by a novice Somali force tackling a problem that has blighted their country for years. And they were guided by battleh hardened South African mercenaries whose actions defied their reputations.