By: Hamed Thabet
Aden, Nov. 7 — The Korean ships with a group of 24 Asian sailors held hostage by pirates in Somalia for more than five months was freed on Sunday off the Somali coast and has left for Yemen.” The South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
“The two Korean-owned fishing boats were hijacked on May 15. The Mavuno 1 and Mavuno 2 were manned by four South Koreans, 10 Chinese, four Indonesians, three Vietnamese and three Indians.” Said Officials.
“Three crew members of Korean ships who were wounded in fighting with pirates off the coast of Somalia and treated earlier by U.S. medics were admitted to al-Naqib hospital for treatment in Aden.” said Yemeni Coast Guard officials in southern Yemen port city of Aden.
U.S. sailors and medics boarded the Korean-flagged vessel a week ago and treated the three Koreans and three pirates, who had gunshot wounds, after the sailors overpowered the pirates.
U.S. military said “A helicopter had flown from the destroyer USS James E. Williams to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons as the crew of the Dai Hong Dan regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates.”
The release of the two Korean boats followed by a release of Taiwanese ship on Monday. “The Taiwanese ship and its 12 crew, eight Kenyan and four Taiwanese, were freed from a pirate-held port north of Mogadishu.” announced Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program.
Mwangura added, "The Ching Fong Hwa No. 168 has been released today(on Monday) off Harardheere. It has been there since May”.
The Taiwanese vessel went free as five U.S. warships were escorting two Korean vessels to Yemen.
The following day a North Korean ship was seized off Mogadishu but the crew eventually fought off the attackers with US Navy help.
The U.S. military has recently intervened several times to help ships hijacked by Somali pirates. Somali pirates are still holding two other crafts: a Japanese-owned, Panama-flagged Golden Nori chemical tanker they seized last week and the Al Marjan cargo ship registered in Comoros. The U.S. Navy said it was monitoring those ships.
Yemeni Officials of the Coast Guard noted, “The International coalition forces stationed in international waters adjacent to the island of Socotra, surrounded spare Japanese warship vessel (Golden Mori) loaded with oil after Somali pirates on Monday 5th November had climbed the board.”
A Japanese chemical tanker with 23 crew on board including two South Koreans was hijacked on October 28. The source added, “Unfortunately, the Japanese ship itself is still under the Somali pirates’ control. But the International Coalition Forces will attack in order to release the Japanese crew.” as told by a source in the interest of the Yemeni Coast Guard sector of the Gulf of Aden.
The Japanese ship's crew are from the Philippines, South Korea and Myanmar. Piracy has been rife off Somalia since the country slid into chaos after warlord’s toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Many pirates claim to be "coast guards" protecting their waters against illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste.
Source: Yemen Times, November 8, 2007