Four years in pirate prison
The FV Naham 3, right, tied to the sunken cargo ship MV Albedo, the latter pirated in November 2010. Photo: EU NAVFOR
In one of the last gasps of Somali piracy, the remaining 26 man mixed international crew of the Omani-flagged FV Naham 3, seized in 2012 close to the Seychelles in a pirate attack, have been released by their captors.
Via Reuters:
“The crew is staying overnight in Galkayo. They will arrive in (the Kenyan capital) Nairobi at 1830 local time tomorrow,” said John Steed, East Africa region manager for the Oceans Beyond Piracy group.
The mayor of Galkayo in northern Somalia had earlier said the crew was set to arrive in Kenya on Saturday afternoon.
“The crew did not say if ransom was paid,” mayor Hirsi Yusuf Barre told Reuters.
Their period of captivity is one of the longest among hostages seized by pirates in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation.
Steed said one member of the crew had died during the hijacking while two succumbed to illness. Among those released, one was being treated for a gunshot wound on his foot and three were diabetic.
The sailors were held in Dabagala near the town of Harardheere some 400 km (250 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu. Harardheere became known as Somalia’s main pirate base at the height of the crisis.
Naham 3 is going to be in Somalia the rest of her life, she sank in 2013.