Fishing Vessel's Crew in Despair

The crew of FV WIN FAR 161, the Taiwanese fishing vessel is desperate and in a horrible condition, local observers reported.

Since the sea-shifta, which hold the ship near Garacad on the Indian Ocean coast of Puntland in north-east Somalia, have a connection with the attack on US container carrier MV MAERSK ALABAMA - a case which made world headlines - the 30 crew members believe that not only the attack by an US helicopter recently but also the fact that no negotiation is coming forward has its root-cause in a decision somewhere to let this case stay unresolved.

That it is actually the crew which suffers most and is slowly rotting away seems top play no role in the present handling of the case.
Philippine officials, which are worried about the fate of 17 Pinoy seafarers among the crew of the fishing vessel captured near the Seychelles, do not even get clear information as to who the real owner of the vessel is - neither from their own government nor from the Taiwanese or the Chinese diplomatic channels - and like so often the families back home are completely left in the dark.

While the WINFAR crew shared for a certain time the fate and meals with 3 hostages from the Seychelles, whose possibly drugs-carrying catamaran then was destroyed, and had renewed hope when these three sailors were flown out - in a deal where 23 detained alleged pirates from the Seychelles were brought to Garacad and set free with some extra cash exchanging hands, thought the ill-designed plan saw them briefly rearrested by Puntland authorities on their way out - nothing came forward so far for the 17 Filipinos, six Indonesians, five Chinese and two Taiwanese of the WIN FAR 161

Nearly half a year since the abduction of the vessel has passed and it is at present the longest pending sea-jacking case of Somalia. The pleads by the crew and their families for a solution must be heard.

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