Trinidad-born sailor Jamille Sabga hid with almost 20 crewmates in a cramped metal room next to his ship’s engine in 120-degree Fahrenheit heat for hours as pirates seized control of a United States cargo ship in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia.

Sabga, 65, was on board the Maersk Alabama, a container ship carrying food aid for Somalians, when it was attacked by heavily armed Somali pirates on Wednesday.

Sabga grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to New York, then emigrated to Canada about 25 years ago after marrying a citizen of that country.

He has worked on ships in a career at sea spanning more than 30 years, a relative in Trinidad said yesterday.

John Hadad, whose mother is Sabga’s cousin, told the Express yesterday that Sabga and his crewmates locked themselves in a small, sweltering room next to the ship’s engine room for nine hours as armed pirates held the vessel hostage.

He and more than a dozen American crewmates had locked themselves in the tight quarters when their captain, Richard Phillips, signalled that they were under attack by pirates.

’They locked themselves in the room, next to the engine, in 120-degree heat,’ Hadad told the Express in a phone interview yesterday. ’Even though the pirates tried to force them to open the door, they did not as they had a code with the captain that told them if it was safe to come out.’

As Sabga’s captain continued to be held hostage, Sabga and his shipmates understood it was time to make their escape.

As a standoff for their captain began, Sabga and the crew apparently fought off the Somali pirates and regained control of the vessel on Thursday, even though their captain remained in the hand of the pirates who demanded a US$2 million ransom.

Hadad said Sabga disembarked from the vessel and was medically examined by doctors who said he was in good health.

United States FBI agents have also debriefed Sabga and his crewmates and he is expected to return to his wife in Canada tomorrow, Hadad said.

’His family and friends are relieved that he has come out of it as my mother has been praying for days,’ Hadad said, adding that in a brief telephone conversation from Mombasa to his family, Sabga said that he was in good spirits and joked that this experience signalled the end of his career at sea.

Hadad said Sabga returns to Trinidad about once a year to spend time with his sister, other relatives and friends living here.

Captain Phillips was freed from captivity at the hands of Somali pirates in a dramatic ending to the five-day standoff with American naval forces, the US Navy said yesterday.

Phillips was freed unharmed and the US military killed three of four pirates who had held him hostage on a lifeboat after trying to seize his vessel. It said a fourth pirate was in custody.