Pinoys among crew of ships seized by Somali pirates
By Michaela P. del Callar
05/26/2010
From almost zero, the number of Filipinos being held hostage in Somalia has gone up again with 63 of them presently in the custody of ransom-seeking Somali pirates.
As the cycle of kidnap- and hijack-for-ransom activities off Somalia continues unabated, the Philippine government is in a dilemma on how to protect Filipino seamen from such attacks.
At a time when the number of Filipino hostages were reduced to almost nil from more than a hundred, armed Somali brigands struck again, hijacking several foreign vessels with Filipino crewmen, the latest of which was a Taiwanese vessel with three Filipinos on board.
The Taiwan-registered fishing vessel F/V Tai Yuan 227 was seized by Somali pirates on May 13 while it was lingering at a fishing ground north of Seychelles.
Apart from the Filipinos, also onboard the vessel were nine Chinese, Taiwanese, Kenyan and Mozambique nationals.
Seized earlier by the pirates were three Filipinos onboard the M/V St. James Park, one onboard M/V Iceberg 1, 19 onboard the M/T Samho Dream, 21 onboard M/V Voc Daisy, and 19 onboard the M/V Eleni P.
Manila has already sought the help of the international community to beef up efforts and intensify cooperation against piracy, which has now extended to other shipping routes....MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
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