4 Filipinos among 6 released by Somali pirates
Two Danes and four Filipinos who were held hostage in Somalia for more than two years after their ship was attacked by pirates were released on Tuesday, the Danish government said.
Two Danes and four Filipinos who were held hostage in Somalia for more than two years after their ship was attacked by pirates were released on Tuesday, the Danish government said.
The Philippines remains committed to deploying troops in UN peacekeeping hot spots despite the brief hostage-taking of 21 Filipino soldiers, who were welcomed back to freedom in Jordan with a traditional military feast, officials said Sunday.
“We never thought we’d make it out alive.”
This is the story of 31-year old seafarer Gerald Gonzales from Iloilo City. He holds the record for being the longest held Filipino hostage in Somalia. Gerald boarded MV Iceberg 1, a cargo ship, way back in 2009 for a 9-month stint as an oiler (all-around shipmate) with a salary of $350. His contract was to expire on April 12, 2010. But Gerald’s ship was hijacked by Somali pirates on March 29, 2010.
It was troubling to see the photograph on the front page of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on Jan. 19 of a patient lying apparently unconscious, his head heavily bandaged and in a neck-brace, with Algerian Minister Youcef Yousfi and a doctor looking anxiously down at him. The photo caption only said it was a “freed Filipino hostage” and the accompanying AFP (Agence France Presse) report did not identify him.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that another Filipino has been confirmed killed in last week’s siege by Islamic militants of a remote natural gas plant in Algeria, bringing to eight the total number of Filipino fatalities.
Police on Wednesday arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked militant suspected of involvement in a 2001 kidnapping of a group of tourists that left two American hostages dead.
Chinese police subdued a knife-wielding assailant and freed a busload of passengers he’d taken captive Tuesday outside a major eastern city, authorities and state media reported.
MANILA, Philippines—Apparently still smarting from President Aquino’s snub last week, the family of a victim of the Aug. 23, 2010, hostage-taking crisis in Manila has started an online petition asking Chinese president Hu Jintao to talk to Aquino about their demands in their stead. The online petition at www.petitiononline.com/HK823 requests Chinese authorities to “ask for [...]
SAN FRANCISCO—Certainly, the basic rule is that you don’t say sorry if you didn’t do anything wrong. But when it comes to an unfortunate incident that turned into a tragedy partly because of you, what’s so hard about saying something like this? “A year after the tragedy, we are still deeply sorry for your loss, and [...]
One of the police negotiators in the Manila bus hostage-taking incident, which took eight lives, is still regretful after a year, a report on 990AM said Tuesday.
Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo maintained the Philippine government would not apologize to the families of those who perished in Manila’s bus hostage tragedy last year.
