The Canadian Armed Forces is crediting the crew of a Canadian warship with helping newly freed hostages, after Somali pirates released a ship that had been held captive for more than two months.
The Canadian crew on the HMCS Fredericton went to check on the hostages after learning a ransom had been paid and the pirates had left. The Fredericton responded because it was the closest NATO ship.
"My first intent was to get over there and make sure the crew was safe," Steve Waddell, Commanding Officer of HMCS Fredericton, told CTV News Channel by phone.
His crew conducted a security sweep aboard the Singaporean ship MV Kota Wajar to make sure there were no more pirates left on board.
Doctors then assessed the 21 hostages and found they were physically healthy, although suffering from the psychological trauma of their abduction.
"They had stress issues and those sorts of things," said Waddell. "It was good for them to finally be away from their captors."
The MV Kota Wajar was hijacked near Haradere, off the coast of Somalia on Oct. 15, and had apparently moved little since then.
"We certainly wanted to make sure the vessel was sea-worthy, which it was," said Waddell. "It was able to get underway under its own power after being at anchor for over two-and-a-half months."
Pirates had allegedly used the ship as a mother ship in the kidnapping of British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were taken from their yacht off the east coast of Africa on Oct. 23.
They remain captive and are believed to be in Somalia.
"We talked to the master of the (MV Kota Wajar) about an hour after the pirates had left the ship, to try to get as much information as we could out of them," said Waddell.
"He said the few days the (British couple) spent on board was the only time he did see them. And when they got back to the pirate camp, and the pirates took them ashore, that was the last he saw or heard of them."
The HMCS Fredericton is deployed on a six-month mission to the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa to conduct counter piracy and counter terror operations alongside NATO partners, the release said.
