Echorouk pays visit to families of Algerian seamen whose cargo-ship was seized by Somali pirates in Indian Ocean

Echorouk reporters, sent on an assignment mission, have paid a visit to two families of those Algerian seafarers who were abducted together 15 other Algerians on board their cargo ship off Oman in the Indian Ocean by Somali pirates in order to inquire about the moral situation of these hapless families after the sad hijacking event.

•  The two families in question are settled in the province of Jijel in eastern Algeria and were met on the spot by Echorouk’s reporters.
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• These families are under a state of shock at the hapless fate which befell their sons namely Said Farache and Abdelkrim Roula who have had a long and rewarding career as dutiful seafarers within the Algerian Merchant Navy.
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• They told our reporters that the latter had recently spent with them the Aid El Adha religious feast before going back to work on their cargo ship.
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• They sent in the meantime several messasges saying they would be back home again soon at the end of their current sea journey.
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• But fate decided otherwise with last Saturday’s attack on their cargo ship by Somali pirates.
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• The Algerian-flagged vessel “MV Blida” had left Salalah port in southern Oman and was headed for Dar-e-Salaam in Tanzania when it was attacked by the pirates.
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• “No further details of the attack are known at this stage,” EU NAVFOR said in a statement.
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• MV Blida has a crew of 27, including 17 Algerians, as well as Ukrainian and Filipino seamen and is carrying a cargo of Clinker.
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• MV Blida was registered with MSC(HOA) but had not reported to UKMTO.
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• There are now 28 vessels and 654 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, according to EUNAVFOR.
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• The attack on MV Bilda comes just days after a German cargo ship travelling from the UAE to Greece was seized by Somali pirates around 175 nautical miles northeast of the port of Salalah.
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