Dear Colleagues and Friends of the CGPCS,
It is with great relief and satisfaction that I welcome the release of the four remaining crewmen of the FV Prantalay 12 vessel, taken hostage at sea by Somali pirates on 18 April 2010. I salute the resilience of these four men who have endured the horrible ordeal of the longest period of captivity by any hostages of Somali pirates. I congratulate and thank our colleagues from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), funded by the Trust Fund to Support Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, for their efforts in securing the release.
While the release of the hostages is welcome news, Somali pirates are still holding 26 more hostages, abducted from the FV Naham 3. I call, on behalf of all CGPCS stakeholders, for the immediate release of the remaining seafarers and urge all stakeholders to engage in initiatives to secure their expeditious and safe return, as well as tracing urgently the whereabouts of seafarers who went missing from Somalia while being held in captivity by pirates.
Maciej Popowski, Deputy Secretary General, European External Action Service