Pirates release Spanish ship

2008-04-27 14:33

Mogadishu - Somali pirates freed a Spanish fishing boat and its 26-member crew after a ransom of US$1.2m (about R9.1m) was paid, a Somali official said.

Spanish officials did not confirm that a ransom was paid before Saturday's release, saying only that there had been negotiations. But Abdi Khalif Ahmed, chairperson of Haradhere port local authority in central Somalia, said ransom was paid before the pirates released the ship.

"The ship is free and the pirates disappeared into their villages," Ahmed said late on Saturday.

In Spain, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the crew and the trawler Playa de Bakio were sailing back home. She would not comment on any ransom.

"The fishing boat Bakio has been liberated and is now sailing in total freedom, escorted by a Spanish frigate toward safer waters," De la Vega told a news conference.

The area off the horn of Africa has a serious problem with piracy.

The 76-metre tuna fishing boat from Spain's Basque region was captured on Sunday while it was fishing in international waters about 300 kilometres off the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia.

Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades, boarded skipper Amadeo Alvarez Gomez's boat and captured the crew of 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans from various countries.

De la Vega said the crew was in good health.

"The 26 crew are in perfect condition and we are communicating this to the boat's owners and the families," she said.

De la Vega said the release had been achieved through negotiation in London between the Spanish government, the ship owners and representatives of the hijackers.

Spain had sent its most modern frigate, the Mendez Nunez, to the region, and it was now escorting the Bakio, De la Vega said. It had been on manoeuvres in the Red Sea when it was diverted to the Somali coast.

"We are satisfied because the crew's safety has been preserved at all times," De la Vega said.

She said the crew would be relieved from duty aboard the fishing vessel "in the shortest space of time possible," to allow them to fly back to Spain.

"We have taken steps so that similar situations do not happen again," De la Vega said.

The seizure came days after French judges filed preliminary charges against six Somali pirates accused of holding 30 hostages aboard a French luxury yacht for a week.

The crew of the yacht Le Ponant was freed April 11 off the coast of Somalia. The ship's owners reportedly paid a ransom to get the crew released.

De la Vega said the government would be taking up the subject of maritime piracy at a European Commission meeting on Tuesday.

- AP