According to the El País newspaper today, the Spanish Ministry of Defence is planning a rescue operation as a last option in the case of the Basque tuna fishing boat, ‘Playa de Bakio’ which has been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Somalia in the demand of a ransom.The Spanish Government says that all diplomatic contacts are being intensified to try to get the 26 crew, 13 of which are Spaniards, released, and ABC newspaper reports today that help has been requested from NATO.
Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, has held several conversations with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Borroso, and has been in contact with the African Union to investigate the situation. The closest Spanish diplomat is the Spanish Ambassador in Kenya.Meanwhile the most modern Spanish navy frigate, Méndez Núñez, is on her way to the scene and is now some 1,400 miles away and is therefore not expected to arrive for two days.
The Capitan of the 'Playa de Bakio' has reported that all the crew is well, and all the pirates want is cash.The crew of the Basque Fishing boat, from a small fishing town called Bermeo in Vizcaya, is made up of 8 Galicians, 5 Basques and 3 Africans. The first person to raise the alarm this morning was the ships owner who spoke to Spanish National Radio at 3.45 am today saying that ‘everybody was fine and that there were no problems at that moment’. We can’t speak now, please do not call us, we are being controlled’ – these are the words of one of the 26 fishermen aboard the Basque fishing boat, Playa de Bakio, following the attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia which has resulted in the kidnap of all its crew. The man who spoke to Spanish radios station Cadena Ser by telephone from the boat pleaded four times in a 12 second conversation that nobody try to make contact with the kidnappers. He also said that none of the hostages were injured, something which contradicts information released by the kidnappers which said that there were several injured crew members aboard the boat. According to a source connected to the kidnappers the boat is currently heading towards the small town of Gaan around 50 kilometres to the south of Obbia. Spanish military sources have confirmed that a frigate that was in the Red Sea is now on its way to the area. There have been several attacks by pirates in the Indian Ocean over recent years. There was an attack on a cruise ship on 4th April this year in which all the crew were taken hostage. The 30 crew members were released after a week following payment of a ransom fee. Action taken by the French special forces led to the detention of 6 of the pirates.The latest attack on the Basque fishing vessel appears to be another in the long list of incidents in this particular area in which 31 attacks were registered last year by the International Maritime Bureau.Spain appealed to France, the United States and NATO on Monday for help in ending a crisis sparked when pirates seized 26 crew members of a Spanish fishing boat off the Somali coast.The defence ministry said a Spanish military frigate was heading to the area off east Africa, where the pirates have demanded money for the release of the crew, a day after storming the vessel armed with grenade launchers.It said the ship would arrive in 24 to 36 hours.Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega chaired a meeting of senior cabinet members, including Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Defence Minister Carme Chacon, to discuss the crisis."We have sought the help of France and the United States," two countries with a military presence in the area, a Spanish government spokesman said.The defence ministry "has already entered into contact with NATO authorities," the government said in a statement.It said Madrid is also in contact with "Britain and other allied countries and friends with a military presence in the area".The coastal waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity, are considered to be among the most dangerous waterways for shipping in the world.
On Monday, a major Japanese oil tanker was damaged and then chased by heavily armed pirates off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen but no one was injured, officials and crew members said.Spain's foreign ministry said the tuna boat, the Playa de Bakio, "was boarded and apparently seized while it was fishing in Somali waters" at 1:00 pm on Sunday, but that no one was hurt.Thirteen of the crew are Spanish nationals, it said, while Spanish media reported that their 13 crewmates are African nationals.Four pirates armed with grenade launchers seized the boat some 400 kilometres off the coast of Somalia, Spanish media said.Speaking in broken English on Spanish National Radio (RNE), a man who appeared to be one of the pirates said Monday they wanted "money", after snatching the phone from the boat's captain who had been contacted on board."I am the captain of the boat... we are all well and there is no problem, for the moment there is no problem," the skipper said in Spanish, before being interrupted by the pirate who said he was a member of a "Somalia militia."The newspaper El Mundo said on its Internet site Monday that the boat was headed for the Somali town of Gaan, about 50 kilometres from the southern town of Obbia.
The seizure came two days after a Paris court charged six Somalis with taking the crew of a French luxury yacht hostage earlier this month.The six were captured by French special forces, along with USD 200,000 (EUR 125,000) of suspected ransom money, after they released the 30-strong crew of the yacht on 11 April. They had held the group hostage for a week.The Spanish fishing boat was seized in the same area where the French yacht was attacked, RNE said.Last year more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters despite US navy patrols.
The International Maritime Bureau advises merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast.
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