Bartamaha (Nairobi):- Two crew members died when Somali pirates hijacked the Taiwanese fishing trawler Win Far No.161, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.
The two were an Indonesian and a Chinese national, but the precise time and circumstances of their deaths were not clear, MOFA said.
Somali pirates hijacked the 700-ton tuna fishing trawler near the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean last April. After seven months of negotiations, they released the vessel earlier this month, and a ship from China’s Navy escorted it out of the area, reports said.
At the time the vessel was freed, MOFA said that all crew members were safe. At the news conference Thursday, officials said the only line of communication went between the captain and the owner of the ship, leading to problems and to unclear exchanges of information.
MOFA trusted the information it received from the owner because there were no other channels available to verify the situation, officials said. The owner only told the ministry on February 14 that two crew members had died, according to officials. His information mainly came from other ships in the area.
The reason for the belated information about the two deaths was that the satellite phone and other communications equipment on board the Win Far broke down, the company said.
Skipper Yen Shun-nan and first engineer Tung Lin-hsiang were the only Taiwanese citizens on the Kaohsiung-registered vessel, while five crew members hailed from China, 17 from the Philippines and six from Indonesia.
The ministry predicted the ship would arrive in Taiwan in the middle or during the second half of next month.
The Chinese Navy only became involved out of humanitarian concern, MOFA said. A frigate was standing by in the area and escorted the Win Far out of Somali waters, according to MOFA.
At the time of the hijacking, Taiwan’s Navy came under fire from lawmakers for failing to take action to protect the ship.
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Source: .etaiwannews
