Swap deal fails for cruising sailors held by pirates for seven months

9:46 PM Mon 7 Sep 2009 GMT

'Pirates on kidnapped yacht Tanit. During the storming by French commandos, two pirates and the skipper of the Tanit were killed.' .

A deal to swap three crew of the cruising catamaran SV Serenity and held by Somali pirates for seven months, with 23 prisoners accused of piracy, has come unstuck soon after the three had boarded an aeroplane to freedom. The plane was in the process of refuelling when halted by Somali authorities who also took the aircraft crew into custody.

SV Serenity left the Seychelles for Madagascar in February and was hijacked by Somali pirates soon after. Soon after the abduction the sailors called home in the Seychelles, saying they were being held by pirates and begging for help. As a leisure vessel there was no-one to pay a ransom, and the sailors have been left as hostages. The swap was to be their salvation, organised by the Seychelles Government.

Somali authorities say they were not informed of the swap plan, officials said Monday. It appeared to be the first attempt to exchange hostages for prisoners in Somalia's multimillion-dollar pirate industry. Hostages are usually only released after a ransom payment.

There are conflicting reports about the fate of the SY Serenity. A catamaran similar to the cruising yacht was seen rafted to another hijacked vessel, the fishing vessel Win Far 161 from Taiwan, on the coastline between Harardheere and Hobyo. While the crew of 30 on the fishing vessel were held on their boat, Gilbert Victor and Andre Conrad and another crew member, from SY Serentiy, were held on land, lending credence to other reports that the catamaran had sunk in bad weather.

The 23 suspected Somali pirates had been held in the Seychelles after being detained by international warships on anti-piracy missions. On Monday, the Seychelles government issued a statement saying the suspects were released because the government lacks evidence needed to prosecute them.

'We do not have sufficient evidence for a trial to take place, and based on that we have respected international laws and repatriated them to their homeland,' said Minister Joel Morgan, who was mandated by Seychelles' president to work on the country's piracy portfolio.

Somali authorities say the 23 were released and flown to Somalia aboard two private planes as part of a deal to free the three sailors. The governor of Somalia's Mudug region, Ahmed Ali Salad, said the planes' crews misinformed authorities about the nature of their mission, claiming they were carrying humanitarian supplies.

Ahmed Elmi Karash, the aviation minister in Somalia's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, said the 23 suspects disembarked from the two planes there late Sunday and that the three former hostages boarded the planes, which were then detained by Somali officials while refueling. The seven crew members flying the two planes also were held.

In May seven sailors from the yacht Ocean Explorer also hijacked in March in Seychelles waters were released by Somali pirates after two months in captivity and flown home to the Seychelles. A ransom of US$450,000 was paid for Ocean Explorer, whose seven crew had just put their paying guests ashore before they were hijacked. However the pirates judged that it was not sufficient, and they set fire to the vessel, destroying it completely, in retribution.

Pirates captured more than 100 ships last year, and attacks off Somalia's pirate-infested coastline are expected to increase dramatically in coming months as the monsoon season ends.

The plague of pirates has attracted warships from nations as diverse as Japan, America, Germany and Portugal. When the warships capture suspected pirates, the prisoners are often delivered to nearby Kenya or the Seychelles for trial.

Pirates on le Ponant. Held for a week and then all crew rescued. French commandos stormed the yacht arresting six pirates. - .. .

Getting through the Pirate Zone successfully:

Commander Chris Davies of the NATO Maritime Component Command, a force combating Somalia piracy, said ships should continue to follow industry guidelines intended to reduce vulnerability: 'Inform the maritime authorities (of the voyage). Use the internationally-recognised (Gulf of Aden) transit corridor. Use speed. Use manoeuvres. Use water cannon to deter attack. Keep a good lookout.'

There are not too many yachts which carry water cannon, but some yachts, even some yacht rallies - eg. the round-world Blue Water Rally , have transited the transit corridor in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 successfully, and there are some who intend to use the route when this year's monsoon season is over.

by Nancy Knudsen