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Pirates free ship after ransom
29/05/2007 12:27 - (SA)
Nairobi - Somali pirates have released a
St Kitts-flagged ship and its 16 crew after receiving a $100 000 ransom, a Kenyan maritime official said on Tuesday.
Another four ships were still held off Somalia's coast where
pirates frequently hijack vessels and sometimes claim to be
coastguards protecting their waters against illegal fishing and
dumping of toxic waste, the official said.
"The Mariam Queen has been released and is headed towards
Mogadishu. We hear the owners paid $100 000," Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, told Reuters.
"The pirates had demanded $150 000 but it fell to
$100 000 after negotiations," he said.
The ship would unload its cargo in Mogadishu, he added, but
gave no other details.
Another vessel attacked by pirates earlier this month - the
MV Victoria - was expected to dock in Mombasa on Tuesday,
Mwangura said.
The World Food Programme had contracted that
vessel to deliver aid supplies to Somalia.
Four other ships - an Indian dhow and three fishing vessels
from Taiwan and Tanzania - were still being held, he said.
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