Family of Pablo Costas
The Spanish trawler Alakrana in an undated photo. The Alakrana and its crew of 16 Spaniards, eight Indonesians, and 12 members from five African nations were held more than six weeks.
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Pirates get ransom, free 36
Spain's prime minister did little to deny paying $3.3 million to a trawler's Somalian hijackers.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - As soldiers aboard a Spanish warship watched, a $3.3 million ransom was delivered by boat yesterday, and Somalian pirates freed a Spanish trawler and its 36 crew members after more than six weeks in captivity.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero did little to deny paying off the hijackers - one reason the lucrative attacks are on the rise.
"The government did what it had to do," Zapatero said at a Madrid news conference. "The important thing is that the sailors will be back with us. The first obligation of a country, of the government of a state, is to save the lives of its countrymen."
Somalian pirates attacked two more ships Monday and still hold about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew, including Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British couple taken last month from their 38-foot sailboat. Britain has refused to pay ransom for the couple.
Ali Gab, a self-described pirate, said the hijackers of the Spanish tuna boat Alakrana were paid $3.3 million. After being freed, the trawler steamed away under the protection of two Spanish warships. All crew members were reported in good health.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the Alakrana was headed for the Seychelles, where U.S. surveillance drones and several warships belonging to a multinational force are based.
The pirates had pressed for the release of two colleagues captured by Spanish naval forces a day after the hijacking. Spain's government had been trying to find some sort of legal formula that would allow it to try the two and send them back to Somalia.
The two were charged Monday with kidnapping and related counts. De la Vega declined to say whether Spain might seek some sort of agreement with Somalia.
"Now is the time for justice," she said. "Our prosecutors are acting in line with the principle of legality and impartiality, and our judges, who are an independent branch, will issue the verdict they deem appropriate."
Somalian villager Ali Ahmed Salad said 12 armed pirates left the Alakrana shortly after noon yesterday and joined others near the pirate-controlled town of Haradhere.
In April 2008, Spain reportedly paid a ransom of $1.2 million to win the release of another trawler seized by pirates off Somalia with 26 crew members on board. That ordeal lasted a week.
Pirate attacks have risen because the millions of dollars a successful hijacking can bring is a windfall in impoverished, war-ravaged Somalia.
The recent end of the monsoon season has allowed easier sailing for pirate skiffs that continue to take vessels despite the presence of warships from the United States, European Union, NATO, Japan, South Korea, and China.
The Alakrana was seized Oct. 2, along with 16 Spaniards, eight Indonesians, and 12 crew members from five African countries on board.
Argi Galbarriatu, whose brother Iker was the trawler's No. 2, spoke with him after his release. "He told me the word to describe it is that they are relieved," she said, "and eager to get to port and come home."
