COLOMBO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has reached out to countries around where Somali pirates seized the multi-day fishing vessel from the South Asian nation, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya told journalists on Monday.
Commenting on what the Foreign Ministry has done to secure the release of the vessel, Lorenzo Putha 4, and its crew of six, Balasuriya said Sri Lankan missions in Kenya and Ethiopia have informed nearby countries about the incident.
Officials at these missions are keeping in constant communication with neighboring countries, Balasuriya said.
The state minister said Sri Lanka has not received a ransom demand from those who took the ship.
Sri Lanka’s fisheries department said on Saturday that the fishing trawler with six crew members was taken in the Arabian Sea, around 1,160 nautical miles away from the Sri Lankan maritime boundary.
