National
Crew of kidnapped Spanish tuna fishing boat released
By h.b.
Apr 27, 2008 - 9:37 AM

The Spanish crew of the kidnapped tuna fishing boat, ‘El Playa de Bakio’ which was boarded by pirates of the coast of Somalia last Sunday have now been released.

It comes after talks were reported to be taking place in a luxury London hotel, and was confirmed by the Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega on Saturday afternoon at a press conference in the Moncloa Palace.

The boat is owned by the Pequería Vasco Montañesa company, based in Bermeo in Vizcaya and had a total crew of 26, thirteen of them Spaniards – eight from Galicia and five from the Basque Country.

The pirates had asked for a 400,000 € ransom, according to some reports, but Reuters reported on Sunday, quoting local sources, that the pirates were finally paid 1.2 million dollars, some 766,000 € .

After their release a member of the crew revealed to El País that the pirates had held them at gunpoint at all time, and that the release was pacific but carried out with caution.
Gotzon Klemos told the paper ‘I don’t know if they paid a ransom for our release, but we are very happy. Please tell my wife I’m coming home’.

The Spanish boat is expected to dock back in Spain in some 70 hours from Saturday evening. On Sunday it was heading to the Seychelles, escorted by the navy frigate ‘Méndez Núñez’.