Pirates Free Tanker After Ransom By MOHAMMED IBRAHIM and GRAHAM BOWLEY
Published: January 9, 2009
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Saudi-owned supertanker held by pirates off the coast of Somalia for two months has been released for a ransom of $3 million, according to one of the pirates and residents of Xarardheere, a pirate town on the Somali coast near where the tanker was being held.
The supertanker, about the length of an American Nimitz class aircraft carrier, was the largest ship known to have been seized by pirates, and it was fully loaded with two million barrels of oil.
The pirates were due to leave the ship after the money, paid by the ship’s owners, was received by the pirates on Friday, according to the pirates and residents, who later said that the ship had moved away from the coast where it had been anchored since November.
News agencies had reported that the pirates had originally asked for $25 million in ransom for the fully-laden oil tanker, known as the Sirius Star, but ”they have agreed on $3 million and the pirates will disembark tonight,” a pirate in Xarardheere who gave his name as Jama said.
He said he had spoken to the pirates who had gone to the ship to receive the ransom payment. The money had been paid in Kenya and reached the Somali pirates on a boat from Mombasa, Kenya, the pirates said.
The International Maritime Bureau in London, a clearinghouse for piracy information and maritime-safety issues, said it could not yet confirm that the pirates had released the tanker.
“We have not got confirmation of the release of this vessel,” a spokesman for the organization, Cyrus Mody, said. “The information that we have from the owner is that the vessel is not yet released.” The owner, Vela International Ltd., could not be immediately reached for comment.
But a regional maritime group confirmed the release. Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance program, based in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “The last batch of gunmen have disembarked from the Sirius Star. She is now steaming out to safe waters.”
The Sirius Star was seized in November by the group of armed pirates about 420 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, in seas where pirates have struck with increasing audacity in recent months, hijacking other vessels, including a Ukrainian freighter laden with armaments. That vessel, the Faina, which was carrying 32 armored tanks and other heavy weapons, is still being held in the region.
Mr. Mody of the maritime bureau in London said there were currently 15 vessels being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, involving 290 crew members.
Amid the increasingly frequent attacks, China said last month it would send naval ships to the Gulf of Aden to help in the fight against piracy there, the first modern deployment of Chinese warships outside the Pacific. And on Thursday, the United States Navy said that a new international naval force under American command would begin patrols to confront Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa.
As for the supertanker, Abdi Ahmed, a Xarardheere resident said, “the big fishes left Xarardheere on Thursday afternoon to the Sirius Star ship to get the ransom money and to set free the ship.”
The pirate who identified himself as Jama said he was waiting for his share of the ransom from his cohorts.
“When the pirates receive the money, they will divide in shares on the spot, so that they will disembark tonight from the ship with everyone’s share in pocket,” he said.
New York Times
Previous Topic
Index
