Piracy. Romanian Families Appeal to Italian Government

(Version anglaise seulement)

The relatives of the Romanian sailors on T/B BUCCANEER have launched an appeal through the chief editor of LiberoReporter - an Italian newspapers, which regularly covered the plight of the vessel and crew held in Somalia.

Since the institutions in Romania have imposed a policy of total silence, the wives of the 5 Rumanian hostages have sent a written appeal to the Italian Government, asking for information and an official response concerning the present situation of the crew as well as when their beloved ones will come home.

Five Romanian nationals are members of the crew of the Italian Tugboat Buccaneer, who are held - together with 10 Italians and a Croatian - imprisoned under very harsh conditions for already now over three months mostly under deck of their vessel, which was seized by Somali captors on April 11 2009.

Though one would think that the Romanian sailors would receive help from their country - no - it seems that the Romanian authorities have not even been a little worried for the plight of their 5 citizens.
No representative of the Romanian state has tried to contact the families of the sailors and, the Romanian diplomats just urge everyone to stay calm, declaring that other seafarers have been held for much longer periods.

Moreover the Romanian Ministry of Foreign affairs has declared that it is the responsibility of the Italian Government to free the crew, since the tug flies the Italian flag and therefore it is considered territory of Italy.

Earlier the women had sent a letter to Romanian President Haul Basescu asking him to become active. But that appeal has not even been replied to.

Yesterday - two months after the first letter - they sent a second one.

But this time - with desperation in their hearts due to the lack of any information - the wives of the Romanians on the Buccaneer, Elia Carmen Borcan, Nicoleta Aragea, Mirela Marinescu, Steluta Gheorghe, Janina Galca, , have decided to address it this time also via the magazine LiberoReporter in order to launch a public appeal to the diplomacy of Italy by "those deprived of any hope".

The wives request from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs information and news concerning what is happening to their beloveds ones, from whom they didn't hear anything for many days.

They ask for an official answer from the Italian diplomatic service, since the Romanian sailors are crew of an Italian ship. They ask information on the status of the negotiations and how the situation will be resolved - a situation, which is becoming more dramatic and uncertain by the hour.

The women are sure that “the Italian government will give the answers” and have confidence in the Italian diplomacy, convinced that “the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will do all it can for the liberation of the hostages” - and they ask for that help and care they have not received from their own country, Romania.

A message has been launched also to the General manager of MICOPERI, the recruiting company responsible for the welfare of the sailors of T/B BUCCANEER on this voyage from Italy to Singapore: “We also asked Mr. Bartolotti to provide news concerning our husbands to us and to take part to unblock the talks, like other shipowners of seized vessels have been pro-active to free the captive hostages from Somali piracy.”

After a failed attempt by Italian diplomats to mediate for the release of vessel and crew, the Italian government has been mum and leaves everything to the Italian company, who owns the vessel: LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT at 11, Via Giovanni Michelucci, Ravenna - Italy. They have so far not achieved anything and just refused possibilities to achieve a release. The Somali side claims that the tugboat and its two huge barges were used to dump toxic waste and the company has not come clear to diffuse these allegations. The Romanian Sailors are: Nicusar Renius Marianescu, Dorel Gheorghe, Stefan Borcan, Adrian Galca and Marius Arage.

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