Part One
Memorie.al / On October 16, 1976, around 4:00 PM, the postman of the Bucharest PTT service brought a telegram to the embassy. The third secretary of the embassy, the late Osman Osmani, who received the postman, immediately brought this telegram to my office; I noticed great concern on his face. He gave me the telegram and, shaken, told me: “Comrade Ambassador, the steamship ‘Mati’ has sent an ‘SOS’ (save our souls).” I quickly read the telegram; it was written with the letters of the Romanian alphabet, but the content of the words was Albanian. The telegram said: Extremely Urgent, Albanian Embassy Bucharest: “On the evening of October 12, we arrived at the Constanța roadstead. The steamship suffered a serious malfunction; the rudder blade broke.
We immediately notified the competent port authorities of Constanța, asking them to tow us and bring us into the port, to the quay, but we have not received any response, despite our repeated requests. We are at the mercy of fate, because the steamship is being carried wherever the sea waves take it. There is a storm reaching up to 10 on the Beaufort scale, and from moment to moment, the situation is becoming extremely dangerous for our lives. We have sent an ‘SOS.’ We cannot connect by radio with the port of Durrës. Intervene, we await help.” Captain of the steamship ‘Mati’ Adem Jaupi.
The Urgent Radiogram
I, who had been in the position of ambassador for a month and a half, did not even know how to act in such cases, but the first thing I did was call Margariti, the embassy’s radio operator, and told him: “Do what you can, get in urgent contact with Tirana and transmit this telegram that the captain of the steamship ‘Mati’ has sent us.” Meanwhile, I told Osmani to call all the embassy employees to my office.
After informing them about the situation on the steamship ‘Mati,’ we divided the tasks for each embassy employee to intervene in all the instances of the country where we are accredited, to save the lives of the ship’s crew, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Transport-Communication, and others. Meanwhile, Margariti informed me that the Radiopërgjimi (Radio Intelligence) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had received the telegram and Tirana was made aware of the situation on the steamship ‘Mati.’
The Trip to Constanța
After this, at 5:00 PM, I set off for the port of Constanța along with Osmani. From Bucharest to Constanța, 285 km, we drove very fast, in two hours, with a “Benz-Mercedes 280,” driven by a professional driver from Tirana, Shyqri Muça. After two hours, Shyqi brought us into the port. We went straight to the General Director of the port, General Hirjeu (Herzheu). This general was appointed by Ceaușescu himself to establish order and work discipline in the port.
This general had completed his higher education in the Soviet Union and during his studies had made many Albanian friends, for whom he had a lot of respect, as it were, he had nostalgia and mentioned them by name. But we also treated him as we should. He was leaving the office, and as soon as they informed him that the Ambassador of Albania had arrived, he returned to his office and received me.
The General’s Order
After we greeted each other, he asked me what brought me to Constanța at this hour and in this disaster! At that time, there was a heavy rain with a storm and a disaster that cannot be described. At that time, I had just gone to Romania and didn’t know Romanian, but Osmani, who had completed his higher education in that country and spoke pure Romanian, translated what had happened with our steamship ‘Mati,’ which had sent an ‘SOS’ in the Constanța roadstead.
We emphasized that the captain of the steamship, due to the serious malfunction the ship had suffered, had asked the competent port authorities to help it, tow it, and bring it into the port, to the quay, but had not received any response. The general immediately called his assistants to the office and gave them a clear order to send the largest tugboat that the port of Constanța has to the steamship ‘Mati’ as soon as possible. The first job was to save the ship’s crew, and every half hour, they would report the result of getting the people ashore.
The Concern
While in his office, the commercial counselor of our embassy, Simon Poreci, called us from Bucharest. After asking us how we had arrived in Constanța, he told us that Tirana was on the phone and wanted to know what was being done to save the lives of the people. We told him that we were at the General Directorate of the port and that General Hirjeu had given the order to send a tugboat to the steamship ‘Mati’ to pull it and bring it into the port, to the quay.
After half an hour, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication, Llambi Leka, called me from Tirana and asked me in detail about the efforts being made to save the lives of the sailors and whether the sea had calmed down at all. I informed him about the efforts we were making to tow the steamship to the port, to the quay, and I also told him that the sea was very rough and the storm was still up to 10 on the Beaufort scale.
The Danger
At this time, the port authority radioed General Hirjeu, saying that we sent the largest tugboat we have, “Mihai Viteazu,” to the steamship ‘Mati.’ Despite the difficulties caused by the very high waves, it approached the Albanian steamship and launched ropes with rockets onto the ‘Mati’ several times, but no one was coming out to tie them to the steamship, because it seems the strong waves would throw a person into the sea. So the tugboat moved away a bit from the steamship, as there was a risk of a collision, and it was waiting for someone from the crew to come out and signal it to approach the steamship again to throw and tie the ropes.
After about a quarter of an hour, the port authority announced that all the lights on the steamship ‘Mati’ had suddenly gone out and it was not giving any sign of life, there was no light on. Meanwhile, the darkness of the night had completely enveloped the port. This news poisoned and shocked all of us, wondering what could have happened to the steamship and the people. Why did no one come out to tie the ropes, and why did the lights suddenly go out?!
The Conversation with Adil Çarçani
It was already 9:30 PM. I transmitted this news to Deputy Minister Llambi Leka. Nothing was visible on the sea, only terrible darkness. After a few minutes, I was called again from Tirana; the operator told me: “Comrade Nesip: a comrade here wants to speak.” I guessed it might be someone from the top leadership.
“Comrade Ambassador,” he said, “this is Adil Çarçani.” And he immediately asked me what was being done to save the lives of our people, because the news you gave us through Comrade Llambi indicates that the lives of the crew of the steamship ‘Mati’ are in great danger. Therefore, ask the Romanian government to do everything possible, to send helicopters from the air to save the lives of our people.
Intervene at the highest instances to send helicopters as soon as possible to bring the crew ashore; otherwise, according to international maritime conventions, all responsibility falls on the Romanian government, because our steamship is a line ship, Durrës-Constanța, and it is in their port, they have it at their doorstep, and such indifference on their part to the lives of our people cannot be accepted. “Notify us of every development,” he told me. At that time, Adil Çarçani was the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers; Mehmet Shehu was the Prime Minister.
Requests for Help
After this phone conversation with Tirana, from the office of the General Director of the Port of Constanța and in his presence, I asked to be connected to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest. Meanwhile, it was approaching 10:00 PM, and at this hour, there is no one in the offices, but by luck, one of the Deputy Foreign Ministers, Kornel Pakosta, was in the office. Osmani, on my behalf, explained the problem to him and asked him to intervene with helicopters to bring our people from the ship to land.
If this intervention was not dependent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I asked him to connect me with the Minister of Defense, Ion Coman. The Deputy Foreign Minister told me that he would personally deal with this matter and would let me know the result. (Later, I learned that Kornel Pakosta had also worked in Albania on the construction of the Tirana-Durrës railway, with the Romanian youth volunteer brigade.)
The Alarm
After a few minutes, the Deputy Foreign Minister called me and told me that he had connected with the commander of the Constanța Air Force and he had said that this could not be done tonight because we are in a military exercise, as part of the Warsaw Pact. It is the third day, and because Romania does not agree to allow Soviet military troops to enter its territory, but only training staffs, it has been decided that from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM, no military helicopter or plane from either side will take off; otherwise, they will be hit by anti-aircraft artillery. The Soviet warships with troops are in international waters in front of Constanța, and we cannot create incidents.
This is what Deputy Minister Kornel Pakosta told me, and he expressed regret for what had happened to our steamship. Under these circumstances, I asked him how we would get the ship’s crew out of the sea, and I immediately asked him either to speak with the Minister of Defense, Ion Coman, himself, or to connect me with him by phone, because the situation could not wait. “Yes,” he said, and in a few minutes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs connected me by phone with the Minister of Defense, Ion Coman, at his home.
THE WORDS OF ADIL ÇARÇANI
“What is being done to save the lives of our people? Because the news you gave us through Comrade Llambi indicates that the lives of the crew of the steamship ‘Mati’ are in great danger. Therefore, ask the Romanian government to do everything possible, to send helicopters from the air to save the lives of our people.
Intervene at the highest instances to send helicopters as soon as possible to bring the crew ashore; otherwise, according to international maritime conventions, all responsibility falls on the Romanian government, because our steamship is a line ship, Durrës-Constanța, and it is in their port, they have it at their doorstep, and such indifference on their part to the lives of our people cannot be accepted. Notify us of every development.”
How was the Romanian state mobilized to help the Albanians?
Osmani told the Minister of Defense, Ion Coman, that we are speaking to you from Constanța, on behalf of the Ambassador of Albania, from the office of the General Director of the port, General Hirjeu, and after explaining the problem, he asked him to order the departure of helicopters to get our people out of the sea.
“I know the condition and situation of the Albanian steamship,” he said, “because Deputy Foreign Minister Pakosta has informed me, but this requires a little time, until we notify our foreign partners in the military exercise that is taking place in that region, to explain the reasons for the takeoff of our two helicopters, to go to the aid of the Albanian steamship, which has sent an ‘SOS.’
While these actions are being carried out, which we cannot determine how long they will take, since the moment is not convenient, it is almost midnight and we do not know what answer we will get from the commander of the Soviet warships, the help for your ship will be faster,” said the Minister of Defense, Ion Coman, “if you intervene with means from the sea, with the tugboats of the port.” And at that moment, he asked to speak with the General Director of the Port, General Hirjeu, himself. After he spoke with the general, Minister of Defense Coman hung up the phone.
Regarding the interventions with the Romanian authorities from Constanța, I informed Deputy Minister Llambi Leka by phone, as well as our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It should be emphasized that these two ministries from Albania maintained telephone contact with our embassy in Bucharest, where the commercial counselor, Simon Poreci, and the first secretary, Idriz Shehu, were following the problem, as were I and Osmani in Constanța. Meanwhile, the port authority announced that two foreigners had come out of the sea and had been captured by the army’s coastal guard, who had placed them in the surveillance offices of the Army Security. Neither of them spoke Romanian, and during the capture, they did not resist.
We thought they might be sailors from the ‘Mati’ and told the general that we should go see them, but he told us that he did not believe it. “It could be something else; they could be agents introduced by Soviet Army Intelligence, with whom we have recently had a quarrel because we have not agreed to allow them to enter our territory with troops for training, but only with staffs. If they enter, it will be difficult for them to leave; they have asked us to establish one of their military bases in Romania, but Ceaușescu has categorically refused.” But, the general said, “If you want, you can see the two people captured by the Army’s Coastal Guard.” Memorie.al
Continues in the next issue
