Bartamaha (Nairobi):- A SOUTH African skipper who stared Somali pirates down at gunpoint when he refused to get off his yacht during a hijacking off the Kenyan coast, is back home.

Peter Eldridge’s wife, Bernadette, said her husband had arrived in Johannesburg yesterday.

“All I can say is Peter is safe and he is home,” she said. She said she did not know whether he would go back to retrieve what was left of his yacht, SY Choizil, which was run aground by pirates.

“I have been told not to say more,” she said. She did not wish to reveal who had advised her to stay quiet.

International Relations and Co-operation Department spokesman Saul Kgomotso Molobi confirmed Eldridge’s arrival in South Africa but had little information on his two crew – South Africans Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend, identified only as Deborah, who were captured and taken ashore in an area controlled by militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Seafarers Assistance Programme spokesman Andrew Mwangura said from Kenya authorities had not yet heard from the captors.

“There has been no ransom demand yet so we don’t know what the next step is,” he said.

Eldridge and the couple left Dar-es-Salaam on October 21 and were heading south to dock the yacht in Richards Bay. Authorities said Eldridge was rescued by the crew of an EU warship on Sunday after a gun battle between the pirates and a naval boarding party, which led to the yacht grounding, reportedly off Barawe, on the southern coast of Somalia.

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Source:- Weekendpost.

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