Danish Navy have freed 16 Pakistanis and two Iranians from the custody of Somali pirates in a air-raid operation, who had been held hostage since last year. According to a press release issued by the Danish Embassy here on Tuesday the rescue operation was carried out on April 2 and the rescued persons are safely sailing back home in their ship.
The Danish Navy's rescue team was attacked by the pirates which was responded by return fire and finally the navy captured the pirates' ship and its crew. The Danish Navy Spokesperson Kenneth Nielsen confirmed that 15 Somali pirates had been arrested from the ship and three were injured in the operation. All of them are being held in custody of ESBERN SNARE, a Danish ship that is part of Nato's counter-piracy force. The Danish Navy also recovered arms, weapons and other equipment from their possession, the press release added.
According to the Captain of the ship, the freed hostages called their families from the Danish ship and "are safely on their way back home". Kenneth Nielsen has said that no decision has been taken about what to be done with those captured. The possibility of legal prosecution is under review and the case has been handed over to the Attorney of Special International Crime. The freed hostages have on their own request been brought back to their own ships enabling them to sail back to their domestic areas.
Doctors are so far treating the wounded pirates, Nielsen added. Four Pakistanis were onboard an Egyptian vessel that was captured by Somali pirates last year. Another ship from Malaysia carrying five Pakistanis was hijacked by the pirates on November 26, 2010 while two more Pakistanis were among hostages of a hijacked ship belonging to the UAE on March 26, 2010. The Companies that own these ships were negotiating with pirates to release their crewmembers since long but the pirates showed great stance and resistance in any compromise.
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