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Somalia - Pirates free captured ships

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Tuesday, 04 August 2009 16:40

German shipping company relieved after Somali pirates freed one of their container ships, and also released a Malaysian-owned tug boat.
The pirates have freed the ship and its crew after they reportedly received a $2.7 million ransom.

Vessel Hansa Stavanger was released on Monday and was later escorted from the Somali coast by a European Union naval force, Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said.

Pirates have been holding the ship, Hansa, with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board, one pirate said on Monday.

"We have taken $2.7 million ransom for Hansa, a German ship," pirate Abdi told the Reuters news agency.

In Berlin, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, confirmed the release.

"I have learned with great relief that the crew of the Hansa Stavanger has been freed," Steinmeier said in a statement, which added that the crew members were well.

The German-flagged container vessel Hansa Stavanger was captured about 645km off the southern Somali port of Kismayu on April 4.

The release of the 20,000 tonne ship, owned by Hamburg shipping company Leonhardt & Blumberg, was expected last week but it was delayed after the pirates demanded a higher ransom.

Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships last year, an increase of more than 200 per cent over 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Rough seas and international navy patrols have curbed pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent weeks, but experts have warned that the end of the monsoon season could see a fresh flurry of hijackings over the next few weeks.

More than 30 ships from 16 nations, including Nato members and the European Union, are patrolling the waters off the Somali coast to try to ensure safe passage for ships heading to and from the Suez Canal. (Reuters, AFP)

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