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Friday, April 11, 2008
Pirates free 30 hostages held in tourist yacht (9:44 p.m.)
PARIS -- Pirates have freed 30 hostages held aboard a French tourist yacht off Somalia's coast for the past week, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.
In a statement, Sarkozy thanked the French army and other agencies "that allowed a quick end" to the hostage-taking. The statement did not elaborate on the role of the French military, but said the hostages were freed "without incident."
The statement did not say when the hostages were released or where they were.
Abdi-salan Qoje, a fisherman in Eyl village, near where the boat was being held, said he saw dozens of people being ferried Friday from the hijacked ship.
"As we went fishing at dawn we saw two empty boats heading to the hijacked ship in the distance," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Eyl, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Mogadishu. "As the day wore on, the same boats passed us carrying at least 30 people. They waved at us."
The Foreign Ministry informed the Philippine Embassy in Paris that the hostages, including six Filipino crew members, were taken to a French military base in Djibouti and will be flown to Paris in "two to three days," Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said.
"They are in good physical condition. ... All of them are safe and sound," he told the AP in Manila, adding that the yacht also "was turned over safe."
He said the Philippine government had no role in the release of the hostages.
Sarkozy will meet the families of the hostages in Paris on Friday afternoon.
About 10 pirates stormed the yacht, called Le Ponant, in the Gulf of Aden on April 4 as it was returning without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea. It was carrying 30 crew members, including 22 French citizens. The pirates then guided it down Somalia's eastern coast.
France sent elite commando troops to the region earlier this week to bolster efforts to free the captives. A French frigate was diverted from its Nato duties and tracked the yacht, while a French plane dispatched from a French base in Djibouti flew over the boat, military officials said.
French military officials would not comment Friday on how the hostages were released.
The 88-meter (288-foot) Le Ponant is a three-mast boat that can hold up to 64 passengers, according to French maritime transport company CMA-CGM, which operates it.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner welcomed the "happy ending" to the standoff and urged the international community to mobilize efforts against pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and said discussions were under way at the United Nations to bolster global efforts against pirates.
Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off Somalia's coast last year. The US Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region, but an increase in naval patrols has coincided with a rash of kidnappings of foreigners on land.
Somalia has been wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy and does not have its own navy. A transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to assert control. (AP) |
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