EU Naval Forces Save Two Somali Men (EUNAVFOR)

HARARDHERE, (AFP)- An EU warship on anti-piracy duties off the Horn of Africa has picked up two Somali men stranded at sea for 37 days after their boat’s motor broke down, the EUNAVFOR mission said Tuesday.

The two were found early Sunday some 230 nautical miles east of the Somali capital Mogadishu when a helicopter from the Dutch frigate Evertsen was sent to investigate their boat, of a kind typically used by pirates in the area.

“In the skiff there were two Somalis with little water and only a handful of rice and sugar remaining,” an EUNAVFOR statement said. “Unfortunately, after only three days their inboard engine broke down and they were adrift for 37 days.”

The two men, who said they were food and fuel traders, were taken with their boat in tow back to the coast — near Mereeg, south of Haradeere — and reunited with their clansmen, who had given the pair up for dead.

Source: AFP