Somali Pirates Release Belgian Ship's Crew

10 Hostages Held For Two Months Were Freed After Payment Of Ransom

(AP)  Somali pirates have released the entire crew of a Belgian ship kidnapped two months ago after a ransom was paid, the government said Sunday.

The 10-member crew of the Pompei dredger were in good health, it said. Defense Minister Pieter De Crem told a news conference a ransom was paid for the release of the hostages.

He declined to say how much, but said pirates had demanded $8 million.

The money was dropped onto the deck of the Belgian vessel on Saturday from a helicopter, De Crem said.

The ship and its crew of two Belgians, a Dutch, three Filipinos and four Croatians were seized April 18 a few hundred miles north of the Seychelles islands as they were sailing to South Africa.

Despite international navy patrols, piracy has exploded in the Gulf of Aden and around Somalia's 1,900-mile coastline. Pirates are able to operate freely because Somalia has had no effective central government in nearly 20 years.

Seasonal monsoons have hampered pirate activity recently and the relative lull is expected to continue until at least the end of August, when the rough weather subsides, according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau.

[ajjaxtheleast]

I find it hard to dislike the pirates.

A Cris Craft chasing a tanker,,,must be a sight.

It's possible we're not privy
to this GAME of Catch Me If You Can,

The pirates NEVER kill a crew member and the crew
members never arm themselves to kill the pirates.

It definitly isn't the cost of arming the ships
and hiring people that know how to blast
away with precision,,

8-million dollars would arm a fleet of tankers.

For some reason the ship owners are, if not happy
with the setup, at least tolerant,,,The pirates
on the other hand are quite happy with
the game rules.

So if the ones playing the game aren't making
any move to change things let's just have the
sites keep a running weekly box score,,,
Pirates 30, Ship Owners 13,,,

There must be somebody else somewhere just as
important as pirates for our figuring out
ways to kill them.

[ToolMangler1]

A "Phalanx Gun" mounted on the top of the 'wheelhouse' will stop most of this mess.

[mcintoshlou]

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admits he used bad judgment when he secretly visited his mistress during a state-funded trip to Argentina last year. But did he break the law?

As calls mounted for a criminal probe of the trade mission, a spokeswoman for the state's law enforcement division said it doesn't appear Sanford did anything illegal.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said the information provided so far indicates Sanford met his mistress on private time during a legitimate business trip.

"Perhaps his judgment was clouded, but he did not have criminal intent," Timmons said Saturday. "The situation would be completely different if he'd asked Commerce to set up the trip to Argentina with the sole intent to set up an extramarital affair."

CAN YOU IMAGINE THESE REPUBLI'CON' CLOWNS, THESE ADULTERERS, TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE SOMALI PIRATES , WE CAN THANK GOD WE HAVE PRESIDENT OBAMA.

[gravyboat3000]

Two months? I guess that's how long it takes to make enough Belgian waffles for the entire population of Somalia.

But it was TOTALLY worth it!

[mcintoshlou]

THE US NAVY CONTROLLED THE SEAS UNTIL A REPUBLI'CON' MORAN NAMED

GW BUSH SENT THE ENTIRE NAVY TOI LOOK FOR WMD's IN A WAR OF

CHOICE IN IRAQ,

REPUBLI'CON's ARE MINDLESS ANTI AMERICAN FOOLS