Somali pirates release ship with 19 Pinoy seamen

Somali pirates released on Saturday the Liberian-flagged and Greek-owned MV Eleni P with 19 Filipinos, seven months after it was hijacked, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. In an article on its website, the DFA said that the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi confirmed the release of the vessels and all its 23 crew members. According to the European Naval Force Somalia-Operation Atalanta, the vessel was hijacked on May 12, 2010, 50 nautical miles off the coast of Oman on its way to Kandla, India. “The DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) is coordinating with the seafarer's manning agency and the vessel owner to arrange for their repatriation," the DFA said. Dangerous coast The 2,993-km Somalian coast and the East African coasts of the Indian Ocean have become extremely dangerous for ships since warlords in Somalia ousted a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned against each other. For many years, the Gulf of Aden was particularly dangerous, being a transit point for ships navigating Egypt’s Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean. It is one of the world's busiest sea lanes, through which 20 percent of world trade is transported. The presence of foreign navies in the gulf has reduced the number of pirate attacks and hijackings there, but the pirates have spread their operations to the southern end of the Red Sea and have even ventured as far as the Maldives, the United Nations reported. Currently, there are 82 Filipino seafarers on board six vessels still being held captive by pirates, but the number of Filipino sailors going abroad to work on foreign-flagged ocean vessels continues to grow. Since 1987, the Philippines has been the world’s leading supplier of seafarers. According to the Apostleship of the Sea, a U.K.-based advocacy group, Filipino seamen account for about one-fifth to one-fourth of the 1.2 million ship workers, the world’s total. - Jerrie M. Abella/DM/KBK, GMANews.TV