Somali militiamen freed the South Korean trawler and its 25-man crew on June 30 and were paid about $400,000 for their release, an east African maritime official said in Mombasa, Kenya.
Captain Choi Sung-sik declined to answer questions about the deal that won their release, as he and seven South Korean crewmen arrived at Inchon airport near Seoul.
“I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to remember it,” Choi said on arrival, which was carried live by YTN television.
The crewmen were in good health, Choi said.
The trawler, belonging to South Korea’s Dongwon Fisheries Co. Ltd., was seized on April 4 by eight armed men in two speedboats who accused it of fishing illegally but may have been pirates.
Somalia’s waters have been among the most dangerous for shipping in the world since the country descended into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of a military dictator by warlords.
The crew of the 361-tonne trawler named 628 Dongwon-ho also included nine Indonesians, five Vietnamese and three Chinese.
A Vietnamese sailor said after being freed that the crew had not been harmed by the captors.
Source: Reuters, Aug 9, 2006
