The Department
for Management of Overseas Labor has announced that of 26 sailors on Taiwanese
FV Shiuh Fu-1 vessel, which was captured by Somali pirates last week, there are
12 Vietnamese.

The department’s vice chief Dao Cong Hai on January 5 said
that the 12 Vietnamese workers were enrolled by three manpower exporting firms,
named Inmasco, Servico and Van Xuan. All of them are from the central provinces
of Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

Hai said that the department had instructed the three firms
to get in contact with the Taiwanese employer to get information about
Vietnamese sailors and communicate with the victims’ families.

The department also asked the Foreign Ministry to collect
information and protect Vietnamese sailors via diplomatic channels.

“This is an unexpected accident. The pirates need money.
They need time to evaluate the ship to fix the ransom,” Hai said.

According to CNN, Somali pirates seized a Taiwanese fishing
boat and 26 Vietnamese and Chinese sailor off the sea of Madagascar.

In early May 2010, another Taiwanese fishing boat named Tai
Yuan – 227 (with three Vietnamese sailors) was captured by Somali pirates in
the Indian Ocean.

PV