STATUS OF SEIZED VESSELS AND CREWS IN SOMALIA, THE GULF OF ADEN AND THE INDIAN OCEAN (ecoterra - 29. January 2011)

Sunday, 30 January 2011 10:40 Ecoterra

Today, 29. January 2011, 23h30 UTC, at least 47 foreign vessels plus two barges are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 840 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple - suffer to be released.
But even EU NAVFOR, who counts only high-value, mostly British insured vessels, admitted now that on their rather understating account 723 hostages on 30 vessels are recorded as held hostage, while the IMB
spoke of 32 vessels and 746 hostages before the latest sea-jacking.
Having come under pressure, EU NAVFOR's operation ATALANTA felt compelled to publish now their list of those vessels which EU NAVFOR admits had not been protected from pirates and were taken.
EU NAVFOR also admitted for the first time that actually a larger number of vessels and crews is held hostage than those listed on their file.
Since EU NAVFOR's inception at the end of 2008 the piracy has started in earnest and it has now completely escalated. Only knowledgeable analysts recognized the link.
Request the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor from ECOTERRA Intl. for background info and see the situation map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA.
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