Somali pirates release 4 Filipinos

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

MANILA — Four Filipino seafarers will soon be back to the Philippines after the Somali pirates freed them along with 27 others last Thursday, the government said Saturday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said crew members of oil tanker MT Hannibal II were held hostage for almost four months at the east of Horn of Africa, a region containing the countries of Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

As of this posting, the ship is heading to Djibouti to facilitate the Filipinos’ repatriation.

Aside from the four Filipino seafarers, crew members on board the Panamanian-flagged vessel included 23 Tunisians, a Croatian, a Georgian, a Russian, and a Moroccans.

To date, there are 103 Filipino seafarers onboard nine vessels held captive by pirates.

The Philippine government earlier raised the issue of maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean before the United Nations and other international organizations.

The DFA also dispatched armed forces liaison officer Navy Lieutenant Gaudencio Collado to work and coordinate with the Combined Maritime Fleet on anti-piracy efforts at the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)