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Sailors fearing Somali pirates to return to Russia

Severn other sailors have left Nakhodka for Mombasa to replace them

VLADIVOSTOK, October 21 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian sailors, crewmembers of the Sea Master-1 ship, who insisted on their return for fear of attacks by Somali pirates, will return to Russia.

The seven crewmembers -- two navigators, two mechanics, an electrician, a welder and an orderly woman -- will depart for Nakhodka on the night to October 22, said the chairman of the Far Eastern regional organisation of the Russian sailors' union, Nikolai Sukhanov. They will depart for Russia from the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where the Sea Master has delivered about 5,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid cargoes in accordance with the World Food Programme.

Severn other sailors have left Nakhodka for Mombasa to replace them.

There have been no pirate attempts to attack the Sea Master. A NATO warship accompanied the vessel on the entire trip from Port Sudan to Mombasa.

Inspectors from the International Transport Workers' Federation, who visited the Sea Master in the port of Mombasa, sent a letter to the ship owner, notifying that all the sailors before the departure must receive pay in full and plane tickets. According to Sukhanov, they have received the tickets, and guarantees have been given that the wages will be paid to them.

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