Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptians Abroad Ahmed Rezq said he has phoned the Egyptian engineer who was shot in his thigh during an attempted hijack of the Egyptian cargo ship "Wadi Al Arab" by Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia two days ago. The Egyptian vessel was saved by a German navy ship. In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Rezq says: "I phoned engineer Wael Said el-Sayed Barakat, from Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate, and learned that the German warship took him to Salalah Hospital in the Sultanate of Oman."
A delegate from the Egyptian Embassy in Muscat visited him in Salalah and informed him that he would be transferred to Cairo as soon as his health improved. Rezq confirmed that the rest of the crew is in good health and the ship is now on its way to its destination in South Korea. On the other hand, Rezq denied reports that a Libyan court acquitted the six Egyptian sailors who were onboard the Egyptian boat "Houda Ya Asal", which sank off the Libyan coasts a few days ago. The Libyan authorities accuse the six sailors of entering the country's territorial waters without permission.
The Egyptian Embassy in Libya made contacts with the concerned Libyan authorities, but they denied such reports, Rezq said, adding that the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli and the Egyptian consulate in Benghazi are following the latest developments in this regard.
