Somali Pirates Release Turkish Vessel

Nairobi, Kenya (AHN) – Somali pirates have released a Turkish cargo ship and its 21 crew members more than four months after seizing the vessel.

The 35,244-deadweight tons Maltese-flagged MV Frigia was hijacked on March 23 off the Indian coast with a crew of 21–19 Turks and two Ukrainians. They were not believed to be injured during the ordeal.

The vessel was carrying a load of fertilizer from Israel to Thailand when it was hijacked about 1,000 nautical miles east of the northern Somali coastline, according to a statement from the European Union Naval Force.

Somali pirates are still holding at least 16 other ships with well over 200 crew members.

EU NAVFOR is patrolling the pirate-infested waters of Somalia as part of a United Nations-backed mission to curb piracy, which has since spilled into the waters of the entire region.

Somalia-based sea bandits have caused havoc in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes where more than 20,000 ships transit the waters annually.

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