COLOMBO: The Seychelles coast guard on Monday rescued six Sri Lankan fishermen whose vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates two days earlier, an official in Colombo said. The three armed hijackers have been arrested.The fishermen and their boat are now safe and are being taken to the Seychelles, according to Susantha Kahawatta, a top official in the Fisheries Department of Sri Lanka, who said he was told of the men’s freeing by the Sri Lankan envoy to the Seychelles.The abduction came two weeks after Sri Lanka said it would join a U.S.-led operation to protect merchant vessels sailing in the Red Sea against attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels. Other suspected hijackings in waters off Somalia have raised concern that Somali pirates have resumed activity, a decade after they caused chaos in international shipping.The piracy occurred in international waters about 840 nautical miles (1,555 kilometers) east of Somalia, 1,100 nautical miles (2,040 kilometers) from Sri Lanka and north of the Seychelles, according to Sri Lankan navy spokesman Capt. Gayan Wickramasuriya.Sri Lankan officials promptly informed all the countries in the region about the hijacking.
Source link
