A video circulating on social media shows some of the ship’s sailors kneeling, with their hands tied and blindfolded, surrounded by two Somali pirates firing gunshots.
Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Mohamed Karim Sherif, renewed Cairo’s call for Somalia to step up efforts to secure the release of the eight Egyptian sailors aboard the MT Eureka oil tanker, which was hijacked on May 2 off the coast of Yemen by armed Somali pirates.
The issue was the focus of a meeting between the Egyptian deputy minister and the Somali ambassador to Cairo, Ali Abdi Awari.
During the meeting, Sherif emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of the eight Egyptian sailors. A video circulating on social media shows some of the ship’s sailors kneeling, their hands bound and blindfolded, surrounded by two Somali pirates firing shots into the air.
The MT Eureka had been hijacked while en route to Somalia. The group of pirates reportedly departed from a remote coastal area near the town of Qandala, on the Gulf of Aden.
