Release of Egyptian sailors in Somalia.. after 151 days of kidnapping

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After more than five months since their abduction off the coast of Somalia, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday the release of 8 Egyptian sailors who had been held on a ship off the coast of Puntland in Somalia since May 2.

In this regard, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty directed the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu to receive the sailors after their release, ensure their well-being, and facilitate their return to Egypt on the next available flight, according to a ministry statement, which clarified that "the release of the sailors came based on the directives of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and under the supervision of the Foreign Minister, alongside high-level communications with Somali and Yemeni officials that continued throughout their captivity."

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also stated that "the consular sector met, during the past period, with the families of the abducted to inform them about the efforts made for their release, and the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu facilitated communications between the sailors and their families during the kidnapping period to reassure them."

It is noteworthy that the oil tanker "MT Eureka" was hijacked in early May by armed Somali groups while sailing off the Yemeni coast, and 12 sailors were held on board since May 2, including 8 Egyptians and 4 Indians.

For 151 days, the families of the sailors awaited news of their loved ones, amid the ambiguity surrounding their detention and fate, while negotiations for their release stumbled repeatedly due to disagreements over the ransom amount required.

It is worth noting that the incident involving the M/T Eureka is not the first of its kind in the waters surrounding Somalia, as the region has witnessed repeated waves of piracy and ship hijacking in recent weeks, many of which have been linked to the detention of crew members and demands for financial ransoms.

In just four months, pirates seized 6 commercial ships, including 3 vessels that were hijacked off the Yemeni coasts, marking a notable return of maritime piracy that the international community believed had been largely contained in recent years.

The latest of these attacks was the hijacking of the oil tanker "MT Sibu 1", which flies the Eritrean flag, in late August, when 6 armed men boarded the tanker, which had a crew of 20 on board, before steering it towards the shores of the Puntland region in Somalia.