SOMALI PIRATES have released the 36-man crew of a Spanish trawler held hostage for the past six weeks.
Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero made the announcement at a press conference in Madrid yesterday.
"I can confirm that the trawler Alakrana is sailing freely towards safer waters with its crew all safe and sound," he said.
Mr Zapatero refused to confirm reports that the pirates had been paid a ransom of between $3.5 million (€2.4 million) and $4 million for their release. "We did what we had to do," he said.
The Alakrana, whose crew consists of 16 Spaniards - mainly from Galicia and the Basque Country - and others from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Senegal and the Seychelles, was seized by pirates on October 2nd as it was fishing for tuna 400 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles.
Shortly after the seizure, a Spanish naval frigate patrolling the area captured two of the alleged pirates and flew them to Madrid to stand trial. Not surprisingly this prompted threats from pirate leaders that they would kill the hostages unless their comrades were released.
On Monday the tension was defused somewhat when the court announced that two accused would face lesser crimes of armed robbery and kidnapping. If found guilty, they will be expelled from Spain and allowed to serve their sentences in their homeland.
A week after the Alakrana was seized, a British couple were kidnapped while sailing their 38ft yacht from the Seychelles to Tanzania. Peter and Rachel Chandler are still being held by the pirates while their family try to negotiate their release.
The pirates are currently holding 10 ships of various nationalities and some 200 hostages for ransom.
A strong international military force - the EU's Navfor, consisting of 10 ships, helicopters, a submarine and three aircraft, and the US Africom, which includes a remote-controlled drone aircraft - continues to patrol the dangerous waters. Despite this international show of strength, the pirates are undeterred.
On Monday a gang seized a North Korean chemical tanker with a 28-man crew as it sailed from Singapore to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The Madrid government has authorised Spanish ships in these waters to carry armed civilian security guards. The air force flew about 50 of these guards to the Seychelles last weekend, where they boarded ships of the Spanish fishing fleet in the area.
It is believed that many other merchant ships and fishing vessels off the coast of East Africa are now carrying armed guards, some of whom have been successful in protecting the ships.
On Monday, guards fought off pirates trying to board a Ukrainian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.