Relatives of Georgian sailors captured in Somalia hold protest in Batumi

On November 5, relatives of the Georgian sailors captured by Somali pirates held picket at the building of Adzharian government. They demanded a meeting with local officials and called on the authorities and diplomatic corps of Georgia to be proactive in their efforts to free the hostages.

On September 8, in the Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates captured the tanker Oilb G. The ship owner company hired lawyers to negotiate with the kidnappers towards releasing Georgian sailors and expressed the willingness to go to any conditions in order to rescue the crew and the ship.

The desperate relatives decided to hold a protest action after several days ago the captured sailors managed to make a telephone call. Their wives and mothers retold what they heard from their relatives. "We are in awful conditions here; terrible unsanitary! Help us, invoke everyone you can!" Naira Khalvashi, a participant of the picket, retold the sailors' story.

"We're very sorry for them; they are all locked in a cellar! Pirates take them out one by one, allow making a call and then push them back!" another participant of the action has added.

One of the sailors told in his call home that pirates give water to hostages once a week; and the sailors began quarrelling with each other, the "Georgia online" writes with reference to the "Imedi" TV company.

Zurab Beridze, a representative of the office of the Prime Minister of Adzharia, told the picketers that a special operation to free the sailors was not planned until the chances to dialogue are exhausted to the very end; and that the President receives information on the prisoners' status on the everyday basis.

The protesters decided to listen to the words of the official, the "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio reports.