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| Somali pirates free Belgian ship | Somali pirates free Belgian ship |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Somali pirates have released a Belgian dredging ship, the Pompei, and its crew two months after they were captured, the Belgian prime minister has said. | Somali pirates have released a Belgian dredging ship, the Pompei, and its crew two months after they were captured, the Belgian prime minister has said. |
| "We were... informed that the entire crew is in good health," Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy said in a statement. | |
| No details were given about the release of the MV Pompei, whose crew includes a Dutch captain, two Belgians, three Filipinos and four Croats. | |
| It was hijacked on 18 April some 150km (93 miles) north of the Seychelles. | |
| The Pompei was the first Belgian ship to be seized by Somali pirates. | |
| At the time of its capture, it had been on its way to South Africa from Dubai, where it was helping to build artificial islands. | |
| See map of how piracy is affecting the region and countries around the world | |
| Some success | |
| Last week, a Dutch cargo ship was released after being held by Somali pirates since early May. One Ukrainian sailor was shot dead and eight other crew members injured. | |
| The release of the Pompei brings the number of ships still held by pirates down to 12, with a total of some 200 crew. | |
| Earlier this month, EU ministers agreed to extend an anti-piracy operation - known as Atalanta - off the Horn of Africa until the end of 2010. | |
| Two dozen ships from European Union nations, including Britain, France, Germany and Italy, patrol an area of about two million sq miles. | |
| Operation Atalanta's new commander, Rear Adm Peter Hudson, told the BBC last week that successful pirate attacks had fallen in the past six months, but said a "full solution" lay ashore, not at sea. | |
| He said the key was to bring stability to Somalia, which has been without a stable government since 1991. | |
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| When first loaded, the map's focus falls on Somalia where most of the pirates are based. Use the arrow icons to scroll left towards Europe and the United States which are both playing a central role in tackling the problem. | |
| Scroll to the right for a story about the Philippines, which supplies many of the world's mariners. | |
| You can zoom in for more detail by using the "+" or "-" signs on the upper left hand side. | |
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