Eight Egyptian sailors released after five-month captivity

Eight Egyptian sailors have been released after being held captive for nearly five months. The crew members were seized on May 2 when armed pirates hijacked the oil tanker M/T Eureka near the Somali coast.

The vessel, which was carrying diesel toward the Yemeni port of Mukalla, was diverted to the waters of the Puntland region in Somalia. The tanker’s crew included eight Egyptians and four Indian nationals.

The release follows high-level diplomatic negotiations led by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, involving officials from Somalia and Yemen. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with the vessel's Yemeni owners and established specialized operations units in Cairo and the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu to monitor the sailors' welfare and facilitate communication with their families.

The sailors are expected to travel to the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu to undergo health checks before returning to Cairo. This incident occurs amid rising concerns regarding maritime security and a resurgence of piracy off the coast of Somalia.