SOMALI PIRATES' CAPTIVES RELEASED AFTER ALMOST FIVE YEARS|索馬利亞海盜釋放26人質 含1台籍船員

26 members of a fishing boat's crew, all Asian, were captured and held hostage by Somali pirates for over 4 years. They were released on Oct 22. There is reported to be a Taiwanese among them. Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa will help the released hostage return to Taiwan. ==CCTV Africa== We begin with some good news from the Horn of Africa region, where a group that has been in captivity for more than 4 years has just been released by Somali pirates. The 26 hostages in the photo look gaunt and malnourished; some appear to have been wounded. It is reported that these crew members were taken hostage by the Somali pirates while sailing through the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean in Mar. 2012. The captain was killed in the attack, and 2 of the crew members died in captivity. ==CCTV Africa== Of the original 29-member crew, one died during the hijacking, and two more succumbed to illness during their captivity. The remaining 26 crew members spent much of their captivity on land in Somalia. These hostages have been kept captive for nearly 5 years. They are the second-longest held and the last captured hostages by the Somali pirates. According to international media reports, they were released after a ransom of US$2 million was paid. These crew members are all from Asian countries, including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Allegedly, there is also a chief engineer surnamed Shen from Taiwan. The news came a shock for many, and some legislators accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of gross negligence for failing to keep track of the case. ==CHEN TING-FEI, DPP Legislator== If a person goes missing for five years and our government has no knowledge of it at all, then we have a problem with the report system. We may even need to review the entire diplomatic system. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the boat was flying an Oman flag, so they requested assistance from the Oman government and international NGOs. The Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa will send officials to Kenya and help the Taiwanese crew member return to home. TRANSLATED BY：CHRISTINA LIU ==中國中央電視台非洲分台主播== 我們從非洲之角地區收到好消息 一個被囚禁超過4年的團體 剛剛被索馬里海盜釋放了 照片中這26名人質,各個是面黃肌瘦,營養不良, 其中還有人腳部有槍傷,據了解,這些船員在2012年3月,行經印度洋島國'塞席爾"南方,遭索馬利亞海盜攻擊,當時船長在遇劫過程中身亡，另外還有2名船員遭囚禁病死，最後只剩下這26名船員。 ==大陸中央台非洲分台主播== 原來29名船員中 一人在劫持過程中死亡 另外兩人在被囚禁期間 死於疾病 其餘26名船員 被關在索馬利亞島上 這些人質被關了近5年之久,他們是遭索馬利亞海盜綁架第二久的人質，可能也是最後一批，遭索馬利亞海盜綁架的肉票,而根據國外媒體報導，索馬利亞海盜會釋放人質，是因為同意200萬美元贖金。 據了解這些船員中，國籍幾乎全來自亞洲,包括大陸、印尼、菲律賓、越南和柬埔寨,甚至還傳出有沈姓漁船輪機長來自台灣,收到這樣消息，有立委感到吃驚，因為這四年都來，完全沒有收到任何消息，質疑外交部嚴重失職。 ==民進黨立委 陳亭妃== 如果說一個人失蹤(近)五年 那我們政府都不知道 那這個部份到底是誰 是警政單位的通報有問題 還是我們整個在外交體系 我覺得這都要一併檢討 外交部則回應,遭劫持的漁船,因為插的是阿曼國旗，也曾請相關外館,請阿曼政府與國際非營利組織協助。目前外交部已指示駐南非代表處,在人質獲釋後，隨即前往肯亞,協助我國船員儘速返台。 記者 黃立偉 應磊奇 台北報導