Lawyer Nilgün Yamaner told the Anatolia news agency on Tuesday that there was progress in the ongoing negotiations and that she was hopeful about the talks. Yamaner added that all 23 crew members on board were in good condition and they had the chance to communicate with their families.
Özcan Akbay, father of the ship's 24-year-old fourth officer Aysun Akbay, claimed that the family could not reach their daughter and that the ship's crew had been “abandoned.”
Somali pirates attacked the Turkish-flagged Horizon 1, with 23 Turkish crew members on board, on July 8. The ship was en route to Jordan from Saudi Arabia. Pirates asked for ransom to release the ship and the hostages.
Meanwhile, Turkish commandos operating under a joint NATO mission to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden captured five Somali pirates and thwarted possible attacks on two commercial ships in the area, a statement from the Turkish military said on Tuesday.
