NBC News — China rescued a group of 26 fishermen who were held hostage by Somali pirates for more than a year and a half. The crew members, 13 Chinese, one Taiwanese and 12 Vietnamese, were freed on tuesday. The Taiwanese trawler was seized by Somali pirates on December 5th, 2010.

A helicopter was dispatched to retrieve the men, and it took just over one hour to get all of them on board in five groups. The Chinese military is providing few details of how the rescue was accomplished. A Chinese navy ship escorted the released fishermen back to port.