>KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - FARAHIYAH Azreen Mohd Ariffin, 27, was on board the tanker belonging to the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC) as it was sailing the Red Sea for Singapore when her superior ordered her off the ship.
The superior had said he did not want another woman to be kidnapped by pirates, Farahi-yah's aunt, who wished to be known only as Nora, said yesterday.
'They asked Farahiya to leave the ship before it entered the Gulf of Aden and take a flight back to Kuala Lumpur from Medina.
'I cannot imagine what could have happened to her if she was still on board that ship. I am grateful she is safe and here with us,' she said at her food stall in Kampung Melayu Ampang near here
Nora, in her 40s, described her niece, who is now staying with her parents in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, as a strong person, adding that MISC had yet to instruct Farahiya to return to work.
Farahiyah is a junior electrician undergoing on-the-job training on board Bunga Melati Lima.
The tanker, fully laden with petrochemicals, was headed towards Singapore from Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, when it was hijacked by pirates. MISC said the crew comprised 36 Malaysians and five Filipinos.
Meanwhile, crew member Muhammad Abu Ubaidah Ahmad, 23, had secretly contacted his family in Merbok, near Sungai Petani in Kedah, last week to say all the hostages were safe and were well taken care of by their captors.
In the call made last Friday to his father Ahmad Abdullah, 53, the ordinary seaman said 19 gunmen were holding them captive since pirates took over the tanker on Aug 29.
Ahmad said his son assured him that the crew was safe. -- NST
| 
