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Somali pirates release South Korean fishing vessel

Other News Materials 10 February 2011 02:14 (UTC +04:00)
Somali pirates have released a South Korean fishing boat with 43 crew members, after four months in captivity, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday, dpa reported.
Somali pirates release South Korean fishing vessel

Somali pirates have released a South Korean fishing boat with 43 crew members, after four months in captivity, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday, dpa reported.

The ship was sailing away from Somalia towards international waters, and a vessel from the European Union's anti-piracy programme in the region was requested to escort the boat, the ministry said.

The 241-ton trawler, Keummi 305, was hijacked by pirates on October 9 near the Kenyan island of Lamu in the Indian Ocean. The vessel had been fishing in area for about a month.

The crew included two South Koreans, two Chinese nationals and 39 Kenyans.

There was no immediate information on how the release was secured or whether a ransom was paid, the Yonhap news agency reported.

In January, the EU's anti-piracy mission, EU NAVFOR, said that 128 ships and 672 hostages are being held by Somali pirates.

Somali pirates have driven up shipping costs in the Indian Ocean, resulting in world economic losses estimated at 7-12 billion dollars a year, according to a study by US think tank One Earth Future.

Armed with AK-47s, pirates in rickety skiffs have carried out brazen hijackings, seizing massive oil tankers, cargo vessels and luxury boats.

Navies from the United States, EU countries, China, India, Russia and Japan have been deployed in joint efforts to fight piracy, adding expenses to their national defence budgets.

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