The families of three Vietnamese men are calling for help from the government to save their sons who have been held by Somali pirates for four years.

The men were captured in April 2012 when working as freshmen on a Taiwanese fishing boat.

Nguyen Thi Thuy in Ha Tinh Province's KyAnh District, mother of one of these arrested men 

Nguyen Thi Thuy in Ha Tinh Province's KyAnh District, mother of one of these men, said that in March 2011, his son signed a contract to work as a fisherman on the Taiwanese fishing vessel with the Vietnam Motor Industry Corporation (Vinamotor). Under the contract, he received a monthly salary of USD300.

A year after leaving home, her son sent a message to her, saying that his vessel which had 26 crew members had been captured by Somalia pirates. The pirates requested the ship owner pay a ransom of USD60,000 for the crew to be released.

Thuy contacted Vinamotor to ask for help to save her son and two other men from Ha Tinh Province as soon as she received her son's message.

“We haven’t heard anything from my son in two years. Asking Vinamotor about my son's condition, they only said that my son was still alive and they were seeking to get him home. We asked for meeting the company's director for many times, but he refused," Thuy added.

Her family also petitioned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs for help, however, to date; they have not yet received any information about their son.

Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, a representative of Vinamotor, said the company had asked for the ministries to help in dealing with the case.

“We have hired a Hong Kong Law Company to negotiate with the pirates to save the fishermen. However, during the negotiations, the pirates did not mention the ransom", Huong said.