An Iranian fishing dhow and its crew members managed to escape from Somali pirates after being held hostage for five months, maritime piracy experts from Ocean Beyond Piracy informed.
Namely, the crew managed to slip the moorings of its fishing vessel, the Jaber, on Thursday, August 27th, thus fleeing captivity.
As informed, the Jaber was briefly pursued by the pirates before it was able to rendezvous with international naval forces operating under the EUNAVFOR mission.
The vessel and its crew were captured late March with another Iranian fishing vessel named Siraj off the coast of Hobyo, Somalia as they were accused by local officials for illegal fishing in Somali waters.
According to the pirate hostage tracking data provided by Ocean Beyond Piracy, there are still 47 people held hostage in East Africa. These include 26 crew members of the Omani fishing vessel FV Naham 3 captured in March 2012 who remain in captivity in Somalia ever since, 19 crew members of the ranian fishing vessel FVs Siraj hijacked off the coast of Hobyo, Somalia in March 2015.
In addition, two Kenyans were taken hostage in November, 2014 in the Mudug region of central Somalia while conducting an herbal medicine mission.
“While their kidnapping was not maritime related, it has been confirmed that they are currently being held by a pirate group. The hostages are believed to be in poor health,” OBP said.