There is great news for the families of 16 Pakistanis and two Iranians, as their loved ones have been freed from the Somali pirates after the Danish Navy carried out an air operation to rescue the Pakistani hostages who have been in the custody of the pirates since the last year.
The Danish captain of ESBERN SNARE expressed great pleasure in being able to have the Pakistani crew on his ship and participate in their joy. According to him, the freed hostages have been able to call their families from the Danish ship and “are safely on their way back home”.
According to the Embassy of Denmark here, four Pakistanis were onboard an Egyptian vessel that was captured by the Somali pirates last year. Another ship from Malaysia carrying five Pakistanis was hijacked by the pirates on November 26, 2010 while two more Pakistanis were among the hostages of a ship belonging to the UAE hijacked on March 26, 2010.
“The companies that own these ships were negotiating with pirates to release their crew members since long but the pirates adopted a tough stance and resisted any compromise. In March 2011, the Somali pirates sent out the threat to kill the four Pakistani hostages if $20 million was not paid to them in ransom by mid March”, the embassy said in a statement.
On 17 August 2009, Nato’s North Atlantic Council (NAC) approved the Alliance’s latest counter-piracy operation, Operation Ocean Shield. The operation is Nato’s contribution to the international efforts to combat the piracy off the Horn of Africa and focuses on at-sea counter-piracy operations.
According to the embassy, on April 2 the pirates attacked the Danish Navy’s rescue team and opened fire on the team after which the rescue team responded and conquered the ship and its crew. The team boarded the vessel off Somalia’s coast targeting an Iranian fishing boat that the pirates had used as a mother ship. The rescue operation was backed by aircraft support.
The Danish Navy spokesperson, Kenneth Nielsen, confirmed that 15 Somali pirates had been arrested from the ship out of whom three received injuries in the operation. All of them are being held in custody of ESBERN SNARE, a Danish ship that is part of Nato’s counter-piracy force. The Danish Navy also recovered arms, weapons and other equipment from their possession.
Source: www.thenews.com.pk
what kind of news is that the 4 Pakistanis are still in custody of the pirates the families are still crying and appealing and a local charity guy is going to UAE with the
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