Pirates release Turkish ship

2009-01-07 13:00

Istanbul - A Turkish-owned ship seized by pirates off Somalia in late October has been released in return for ransom, a company lawyer said on Wednesday.

"An agreement was reached after lengthy negotiations," Fehmi Ulgener, a lawyer for the Istanbul-based Yasa company, told AFP, declining to say how much ransom money was paid.

"Our ship was released on Tuesday evening and is sailing towards safe waters," he said, adding that the 20 Turkish crew members were "well and in good spirits".

The M/V Yasa Neslihan, which is sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, was transporting 77 000 tons of iron ore from Canada to China when it was hijacked in the Gulf Of Aden on October 29.

Ulgener said the vessel would continue on its route to China.

Piracy is rife and well organised in the area where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal.

The pirates operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.

Two other Turkish ships are among about a dozen vessels the pirates are currently holding.

More than 100 ships were hijacked in 2008 off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

The pirates are estimated to have raked in $120m in ransom money.

- AFP