Somali pirates release 26 sailors after four years

Somali pirates have released 26 sailors from a 29-member crew, more than four years after their capture, China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed today. One crew member died during the hijacking, while two others died from illnesses during their captivity.

The Saturday release included sailors from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. They worked on Naham 3, a fishing vessel hijacked by pirates on March 26, 2012, during the height of the region’s piracy epidemic.

John Steed, coordinator for Hostage Support Partners with the U.S.-based Oceans beyond Piracy, said the hijackers released the sailors to Somalia’s Galmudug authorities. They arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday and set off for their home countries from there. Steed said the sailors all suffered from malnutrition, and four of them received medical attention before leaving Somalia.

“They are reported to be in reasonable condition, considering their ordeal,” Steed said in a statement. “They have spent four and a half years in deplorable conditions away from their families.”

The pirates held the sailors in Dabagala near the Somali town of Harardheere, about 250 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu. Steed said the U.K.-based piracy mitigation group Compass Risk Management negotiated the sailors’ release for 18 months.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chuying, confirmed yesterday that 10 of the sailors were from the Chinese mainland and two others were from Taiwan. Chuying said the Chinese government is grateful to “all the organizations and people who participated in the rescue.”

In recent years, piracy has posed a major threat to the global shipping industry. Pirates attacked commercial vessels and demanded millions in ransom for kidnapped sailors. The latest rescue ended the second-longest kidnapping by Somali pirates. In April 2010, another group of pirates kidnapped four crew members from a Taiwanese shipping vessel, holding them until February 2015.

In July, the International Maritime Bureau of the International Chamber of Commerce said piracy and armed robbery off Somalia’s coast has fallen to its lowest level since 1995. The decrease in attacks comes amid heightened patrols by private security firms and international navies. Pirates have not successfully attacked any commercial vessel since 2012, Steed said. But he insisted the threat remains and urged the shipping industry to continue to be cautious. Pirates still hold other hostages kidnapped in separate incidents, including 10 Iranians taken in 2015, Steed said.