The first episode of Lootere ended with the Vista ship being hijacked by Somali pirates. Most of the crew of the ship were hidden, while the captain and Mudit were the only people on the deck facing the wrath of the pirates. Vikrant Gandhi in Mogadishu was desperate to divert his consignment from the port in the capital city to another town and remained in the hope that this would help bring down the chances of a scandal that could affect his current job at the port authority.
Spoilers Ahead
Did The Pirates Harm The Crew?
The only diktat given to the pirates was to not harm the crew, and the leader, Karim, was making sure to remind his team about the same. The leader was the only person who was following the orders, unlike his team, which was filled with young men who were desperate to prove their mettle as they had weapons in their hands. The pirates did harm Mudit for resisting their entrance into the control room, but besides that, none of them were killed at this point. The rescue helicopter was sent as per the SOS sent by the captain, but the mission was a failure. The team was worried a single gunshot could lead to a massacre on board, and none of them could risk the killing of the crew at this juncture. Karim demanded the Captain help him locate the rest of the crew. He wasn’t keen on any surprises the crew might throw, which would force him or his team to use their weapons.
Why Was The Crew List Destroyed?
The crew was hidden in the citadel, which was probably a codeword for the panic room meant to be used in such circumstances. All of them were instructed to stay put as the team on the deck was trying to destroy every copy of the crew list so that the pirates did not get their hands on it. Karim had demanded the crew list, but the captain refused to share it for obvious reasons. He did not want to endanger his team at any cost. The remaining crew in the citadel were searching for the crew list discreetly and destroyed each copy to avoid being chased or detected by pirates. The pirates were ransacking every room in the hope of catching one crew member to gather them on the deck.
Who Hired The Pirates?
It was an obvious conclusion that Bilal hired the pirates to safeguard the consignment as instructed by Vikrant. Vikrant’s only order was to help him change the direction of the vessel and make sure it did not dock at the port of Mogadishu. Bilal, who works in the port town of Harardhere, said accessing pirates for the mission was an easy task. Despite Vikrant having issues with Bilal’s plan of action, there was no other way to get the vessel diverted. A demand made by the pirates to move the ship to another port would help Vikrant complete his plan to keep his consignment away from Mogadishu for the time being. Bilal figured this was the only fail-safe option, and thus his only request to the hired pirates was to gather the crew to make it look like a hostage situation and not harm anyone in the process.
Did Any Crew Members Get Injured?
The pirates on their way to locate the crew members had altercations with some of them. One crew member who was on the prowl to destroy the crew list found himself in a fight with one of the pirates. The crewman was severely injured and brought to the deck. Zafar, the second engineer in the engine room, was forced to get the ship moving, and as a result, he was forcefully brought back to the deck to join the rest of captured crewmen with the captain. Mudit, on the other hand, was brutally injured and hoisted up on the ship as a form of pirate punishment. Many crew members were injured as a result, and a few were still hiding away in the citadel, including the women.
What Was The Captain’s Plan Of Action?
The captain, along with five crew members, was now held hostage on the deck, and he made sure they wouldn’t revolt against any of them. The captain came up with the idea of overpowering the pirates. The number of crew on board the ship was higher than the pirates, and the captain formulated a plan to outmaneuver all of them. The idea was to take control of the ship, as most of the pirates on board were very young men with zero to no experience. Most of them had seen firearms for the first time and were genuinely excited to hold one. The captain wanted to take advantage of their inexperience and knock them out. As the plan was put in motion the results did not work in favor of the crew as they tried their best to disarm the pirates.
The captain had hoped the plan would work simply based on the experience he had, but the plan fell flat very quickly. The captain wanted to make sure his crew remained alive by the end of this ordeal. The leader taking up the charge to fight did not rub well against pirates, who might be forced to use the weapons after all.
Why Was Mudit Killed?
The captain’s plan to take over the ship by neutralizing the pirates just based on numbers did not work in favor of the crew. The crew was desperate to get out of this murky situation and wanted to take control of the ship by getting rid of the pirates. Their only advantage was the weapons they were using to threaten everyone to submission. Most of the crew tried hard to get the pirates to surrender, which could get them to carry on with the plan to sail the ship to Mogadishu. To their horror, this plan led to a big standoff between all of them, and it escalated matters between the two groups. The captain had lost control of the situation, and one of his men held a pirate at gunpoint. Mudit, the cadet who was brutally injured, was also held at gunpoint, but soon he was killed.
Mudit was petrified of pirates, and sadly, he became the first victim of the hostage situation. Karim was livid at his men for killing the man when he had specifically instructed otherwise. The second episode of the show ended with Mudit’s mortal remains being thrown into the water as they could not be kept on board for long. The captain obviously felt guilty for coming up with a plan that put everyone in danger, while Karim was shaken at the turn of events.
