MOMBASA: Fourteen Kenyan sailors are among crew of a fishing vessel which run aground off the Coast of Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland, a Mombasa based maritime consultant who monitors the Indian Ocean has disclosed.
Andrew Mwangura said on Friday in Mombasa that the Kenyans were part of a crew aboard the vessel christened Al Amal, a trawler flying North Korean flag that had a total of 34 crew members. Their names were not available bust reports most of them hail from Likoni area of Mombasa and have been at sea for long.
Other crew members aboard the fishing vessel comprise 6 Vietnamese, 12 Indonesians, 2 Yemenis and private security guards.
The private security teams on board such vessels are normally provided from pools of demobilized Somali pirates and coordinated by a ring of pirate leaders and associated businessmen operating in Puntland, Somaliland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Yemen and Iran, according to local fishermen.