A Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in February has been released, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
In a statement, the ministry said the Sakoba, carrying its crew and Spanish captain Manuel Ferreira, was sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The ministry said it did not know how many crew members were aboard.
In Kenya, the mother of one of the freed sailors expressed relief.
“It has been four long months of waiting, but God heard our prayers,†Ash Bakari said upon hearing of the release of her son, Leonard Danson, who lives in Mombasa. “We had given up hope, especially when we heard that violence is escalating in Somalia and that the ship’s owner had failed to reach an agreement with the pirates,†she said.
The ministry said the vessel was hijacked Feb. 26 and the release followed intense negotiations on behalf of the ministry and Spain’s embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
The European Union Naval Force in March said the vessel was taken about 400 miles (640 kilometers) east of the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam but it had no details on the crew.
The force said pirates were extending their reach south into the Indian Ocean because of stepped-up naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden.
