Families of Kidnapped Sailors Plea

The families of four South Korean sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates last year are pleading for help in securing their release.

The sailors were among the crew of the tanker MT Gemini who were captured on April 30, 2011, while traveling from Kenya to Malaysia. The pirates released most of the crew after the tanker’s Singaporean owners paid a ransom reportedly totaling $6 million.

Family members spoke out for the first time at a news conference Monday, after keeping silent while the government and the ship’s owner worked to free the hostages. South Korean media broke a blackout on the case last month, which the foreign ministry requested after a failed rescue attempt in November of last year.

The families said in a statement Monday that efforts to free the sailors have yielded no results, prompting them to make a “difficult” decision to plead for help from the government and the South Korean people.

Kim Jeong-sook, the wife of the tanker’s chief mate, Lee Geon-il, told reporters about their frustration…

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Article courtesy of VoA.