Chinese sailors freed

Nairobi, Kenya (AP):

A hostage ordeal ended for 17 Chinese sailors who returned home after four months in pirate captivity, even as pirates overran a chemical tanker near India yesterday, capturing the vessel and 31 crew members.

The European Union anti-piracy force said pirates took control of the Panamanian-flagged MV Hannibal II while it was travelling from Malaysia to the Suez Canal. The EU Naval Force said the hijacking took place nearly 900 nautical miles east of the Horn of Africa, which is closer to India than Somalia.

The Hannibal has 31 crew on board, 23 of them from Tunisia. The EU said the tanker was carrying vegetable oil.

In China, a group of 17 sailors returned home safely after being held hostage more than four months. The sailors' Somali captors gave them only one meal of boiled potatoes per day, newspapers reported yesterday.