SEOUL, South Korea: Four South Korean sailors abducted by Somali pirates returned home Friday after their release from nearly six months in captivity, an official said.
The men were nabbed May 15 along with 20 other sailors when the two South Korean-owned vessels they were on were seized off the Somali coast. Details on how they were released or whether a ransom was paid have not been disclosed.
The 20 other Asian crew members — 10 Chinese, three Vietnamese, three Indians and four Indonesians — are still in Yemen, where they were taken after their release, said an official at Seoul's Foreign Ministry, on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media.
It was not immediately known when and whether they would return to their home countries.
Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other. The country's 3,000-kilometer (1,880-mile) coastline makes it difficult to prevent attacks.
Earlier this month, a South Korean sailor — one of the 23 Asian crew members aboard a Japanese tanker commandeered by Somali pirates — was freed but other crew members were still believed held by the hijackers, according to South Korean officials.
Last year, another South Korean fishing vessel was captured off Somalia and released three months later after a ransom of more than US$800,000 (€547,310) was paid.
Source: AP, November 17, 2007