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Hijacked cargo ship freed
30/11/2005 20:46 - (SA)
Nairobi - Somali gunmen have released a freighter they seized last month during a surge of brazen attacks on vessels in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of lawless Somalia, says a maritime official on Wednesday.
The official said the pirates freed the MV Torgelow, its nine Kenyan crew and Sri Lankan captain late on Tuesday from where the ship had been held about 500km north of Mogadishu.
Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme in Mombasa, Kenya, said: "It is believed that Somali merchants may have paid an unknown amount of money as ransom. The crew are in good shape."
He said the St Vincent and the Grenadines-registered Torgelow was heading to the Somali port of El-Maan, the same place it was hijacked on October 8, some 35km north of Mogadishu, to unload its 850 tons of cargo.
Mwangura said Tuesday's step left four vessels still held captive by Somali pirates who on Saturday released a Ukrainian ship, the MV Panagia seized on October 19, and its 22-member crew.
He said the Thai-owned MV Laemthong Glory, hijacked with a cargo of Brailian sugar earlier this month, and its unknown number of crew remained in the hands of the pirates off the town of Haradere, their base.
He said three Taiwanese fishing ships, with 48 sailors aboard, were also still held by gunmen who seized them more than three months ago, off the southeastern port of Kismayo, about 500km from Mogadishu.
The vessels were all hijacked amid a huge rise in the number of attacks on commercial shipping in the unpatrolled waters off the coast of Somalia.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), at least 32 attacks, including one on a luxury Untied States cruise ship on November 5 and the seizure of two vessels carrying UN food aid, had been reported in the area since mid-March.
The spate had prompted dire warnings for mariners to stay away at least 70km from the coast and sparked calls for Somali waters to be declared a war zone.
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