Freed boat reaches Sri Lanka safely: MOFA

February 2, 2011 04:42 pm

The Taiwanese fishing boat that had been freed by Somalian pirates has reached Sri Lanka safely, the Taiwanese foreign ministry said.

The Kaohsiung-registered Taiyuan No. 227 reached Sri Lanka’s Colombo on Feb. 2, about eight months after it was hijacked near the Maldives on May 6, 2010, the ministry said in a press statement.

The ministry said it had worked with the Council of Agriculture and three international anti-piracy groups to try to help the owner of the Taiyuan No. 227 rescue both the vessel and its crew.

But the ministry did not indicate how and when the boat was freed by the pirates.

None of the boat’s 28 crew members are Taiwan residents, the ministry said, adding that they are from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Mozambique.

According to available information, the pirates had renamed the boat and used it for other purposes, the ministry said, The China Post reports.

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