Eight Egyptian sailors who were abducted aboard an oil tanker off Somalia’s Puntland region in May have been released following diplomatic contacts with Somali and Yemeni officials, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The sailors were among the crew of the M/T Eureka, which was hijacked May 2 and taken from Yemeni territorial waters into Somali waters off the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had ongoing contacts with officials in Somalia and Yemen prior to their release. Abdelatty instructed Egypt’s embassy in Mogadishu to take care of the sailors, check on their condition and help them back to Egypt on the next available flight.
The eight sailors had been held on board the vessel for nearly five months. Egypt had repeatedly asked the Somali and Yemeni authorities for help in securing their release, and had been in contact with the ship’s owner and the families of the sailors.
Earlier talks had stalled over ransom demands. Egypt’s Marine Officers Union said in June that talks with the kidnappers had collapsed after they demanded a higher payment.
The incident had revived fears of a return of piracy in the waters around Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.
