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Somali pirates release crew members
Louisville News.Net
Thursday 28th August, 2008
Somali pirates have freed an Omani ship almost eight months after hijacking the vessel.
The pirates have released the fishing vessel, which was hijacked Jan 14th, without causing harm to any of the 22 crew members.
The pirates hijacked the boat near Garaad in Mudug region and took it to Eyl in Nugul region some 500 km north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
At least 30 ships have been hijacked off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation so far this year.
A record four ships were seized in 48 hours last week and the frequency of piracy attacks has increased in the past month.
Last week, pirates attacked an Iranian vessel carrying some 40,000 tonnes of iron ore en route from China to the Netherlands.
Piracy has long been a problem in the Gulf of Aden, where one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, passes by lawless Somalia, which has been without an effective central government since 1991.
The attackers are usually armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades and travel in small, fast speed boats that can be towed more than 100 miles offshore.
Somalia's coastline is considered one of the world's most dangerous stretches of water because of piracy.
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