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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s diplomats are speaking with Somali authorities attempting to determine the whereabouts of a fishing vessel and its six crewmembers suspected of being kidnapped by Somali pirates two days in the past, officers stated Monday.
The obvious abduction got here two weeks after Sri Lanka stated it might be part of a U.S.-led operation to guard service provider vessels crusing within the Crimson Sea in opposition to assaults by Yemen-based Houthi rebels. Different suspected hijackings in waters off Somalia have raised concern that Somali pirates have resumed exercise, a decade after they triggered chaos in worldwide transport.
The hijacking of the Sri Lankan vessel occurred in worldwide waters about 840 nautical miles (1,555 kilometers) east of Somalia, 1,100 nautical miles (2,040 kilometers) from Sri Lanka and north of Seychelles, in keeping with Sri Lankan navy spokesman Capt. Gayan Wickramasuriya.
“To this point, we have now no communication with them or no particulars on the whereabout of them,” he stated.
The Sri Lankan international ministry stated it was working to acquire the discharge of the fishermen. “Sri Lanka ambassadors within the African area have already established contacts with Somalian authorities to get the fishermen and trawler launched as quickly as doable,” ministry spokesman Niluka Kadurugamuwa stated.
On Saturday, an armed group arrived in an space the place about 30 Sri Lankan vessels have been fishing.
Two to a few armed males who had arrived in a 23-meter (75-foot) vessel boarded the fishing trawler, fired pictures apparently to warn away the opposite fishing boats and took away the fishing trawler and the fishermen, stated Susantha Kahawatta, a prime official within the Fisheries Division, including that every one the small print of the kidnapping have been offered by fishermen within the different trawlers. The opposite fishermen recognized the attackers as Somali.
Sri Lanka’s navy stated two weeks in the past it might present a ship to guard service provider ship visitors, however the date hasn’t been set and the realm Sri Lanka will patrol isn’t finalized.
Bharatha Mallawarachi, The Related Press
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