Rescued hostages say happy to be still in Seychelles. The four Seychellois fishermen who were taken hostage by pirates last Tuesday would have arrived in Somalia this week if they had not been rescued by the Seychelles Coast Guard.
One of them, Bernard Reginald, and relatives of the others, told Nation during the weekend they were grateful that Seychelles authorities acted swiftly to stop them sailing towards Somalia as they were being commandeered to do by the pirates.
“Yes, it is a good policy and I’m of course very happy to be in Seychelles rather than in Somalia,” said Mr Reginald from the Seychelles Hospital where he was able to write or eat using his injured hand after it had been operated on following injuries he got during the rescue.
“The bullet has been removed and I’m okay,” he said.
The Seychelles Coast Guard last Wednesday rescued Frank Orphé, Beatty Soufe, Angelin Dorizo and Mr Reginald, and captured the seven Somali pirates who had seized their fishing vessel Gloria.
Mr Reginald was flown to Mahé for treatment while the other fishermen arrived at the coastguard headquarters on Thursday.
They were received by President James Michel, Designated Minister Vincent Meriton who heads the committee responsible for counselling and helping families of piracy victims, Minister Joёl Morgan who heads the High-Level Committee on Piracy, Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier Leopold Payet and relatives of the fishermen.
Mr Michel – who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces – congratulated the Seychelles Coast Guard, the Tazar force and the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) units who took part in the operation to rescue the fishermen.
“It is the third time we have managed to rescue our Seychellois fishermen from the pirates, it is yet another victory for Seychelles! …. I would like to congratulate our armed forces; our coast guard, our air force, our special forces Tazar, for this combined operation which has resulted in the rescue of our Seychellois fishermen,” he said.
He said the people of Seychelles are proud of the armed forces and asked them to continue to do a great job in protecting the country from pirate attacks.
The president also thanked the government of India for the air surveillance support that was provided by the Indian Dornier Aircraft during the operation.
“With the help of friendly countries such as India and the UAE, who have provided an airplane and five patrol vessels, we have been able to conduct our operations successfully.”
He greeted the commanding officer of the Andromache Captain Fernand Laporte and the three Seychellois fishermen, as well as all the officers of the SPDF who took part in the operation.
“We share the joy of their families in their safe return. As I said before, we will never let the pirates take our Seychellois fishermen to Somalia. We will do everything it takes to protect them and bring them home safely. We have shown the world that we can do it!”
This is the first operation, where a female officer of the Seychelles Coast Guard Dianna Sanguignon, has taken part.
The Seychelles Coast Guard carried out the first rescue mission to free Seychellois fishermen from pirates was on March 29, 2010 when six crew members of the Galate fishing vessel were rescued , together with 21 Iranian men, while nine Somali pirates were arrested.
The second time was on November 20, 2010, when seven Seychellois fishermen were rescued on the Faith vessel, and 11 pirates arrested.
Brigadier Payet said the SPDF plans the missions and presents the options to Mr Michel who approves the action to be taken.
“It was after the first operation that Mr Michel said as long as he is the president and commander-in-chief, he would do all that is possible to ensure none of us is taken to Somalia by pirates.
Source: Seychelles Nation
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