Pirates are currently holding at least 44 ships and almost 700 crew
The 22-member crew of a cargo vessel that was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in August arrived in Pakistan on Thursday, days after they were freed.
The four Pakistanis, 11 Egyptians, six Indians and one Sri Lankan, were released along with the vessel, MV Suez, after the pirates were paid a ransom of 2.1 million dollars on June 13.
They were reunited with their families and greeted by a crowd at Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.
The ship’s captain, Wasi Hassan, thanked the government and the media for their support. ‘When no body was there to help, media came forward and highlighted our issue,’ Hassan said.
The Ansar Burney Trust, a charity run by a former Pakistani minister, played a key role in arranging the ransom.
Pakistan deployed a warship, PNS Babur, to escort the crew after MV Suez developed technical problems.
Piracy is rife off the coast of lawless Somalia where armed gangs take to the seas in search of multimillion-dollar ransoms.
According to non-governmental organizations, pirates are currently holding at least 44 ships and almost 700 crew, despite the presence of international warships, which were sent to region following a spike in pirate attacks in late 2008.
Source: Deutsche Press-Agentur