Imported User:
A South African man and woman taken hostage by Somali pirates in October 2010 have been released by the armed pirates.
The hostages were released yesterday.
The couple were taken hostage off the Gulf of Aden in October 2010 after armed pirates hijacked their yacht as it was about to enter the Mozambique channel south of Dar es Salaam. A third crew member was rescued by the European Union’s anti-piracy taskforce
“Today we are happy to get our freedom back,” Bruno Pelizzari, one of the freed sailors, told reporters yesterday. It was not immediately clear if a ransom was paid.
The pirate gang initially demanded $10-million from the families of Pelizzari and his companion Debbie Calitz.
The ransom demand dropped as low as $500 000 in March last year, according to a blog set up to highlight their plight, but was raised again as negotiations stumbled.
