TAIWANESE FISHING VESSEL WITH MAINLY RUSSIAN CREW FREED BY SOMALI PIRATES

Officially yet unconfirmed reports from marine observers revealed the release of a Taiwanese fishing vessel from captivity at the Somali coast. Reportedly a major ransom, which the Somalis called a fine for overfishing the Indian Ocean, was received yesterday while today in the very early morning hours the last of the armed captors left the ship.

FV THAI UNION 3 was seized on Oct. 29, 2009. Pirates on two skiffs boarded the tuna fishing boat with a crew of 27 with 23 Russians, two Filipinos and two nationals from Ghana about 200 nautical miles north of the Seychelles and 650 miles off the Somali coast. During the attack the Russian captain was shot in the left elbow. The Russian and US navies tried to provide medical aid to the captain, while the captors themselves took him to hospital, had him treated and returned him to the vessel. The fishing vessel and its crew were held just around 1.5nm from where FV ALAKRANA was held at the central Somali coast of the Indian Ocean and is held at Ga'an, north of Harardheere, south of Hobyo. Negotiations earlier on did not go well, but after the families in Russia protested openly about the slow progress of the negotiations, more efforts were made to free the ship and crew, while the condition of the captain deteriorated.

After four and a half month in captivity, the crew and their families are happy that all seamen of the ill fated fishing vessel have been freed just before the International Women's Day - a major festivity in Russia.

Only the British sailing couple Paul and Rachel Chandler are at the moment known as being longer hostages of the sea-shifta in Somalia, where the fate of a British researcher, Mr. Murray Watson, is not really known yet, and also a French military adviser is still held hostage apart from further 147 captives on held vessels.

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