Africa

Home page

Africa

Somali pirates release German ship

28 December 2010 23:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A German-owned chemical tanker that was seized by Somali pirates about seven months ago has been released after ransom was paid, APA reports quoting Press TV.

According to Navfor, the EU’s Indian Ocean anti-piracy naval force, the 13,000-ton tanker Marida Marguerite had a crew of 19 Indians, two Bangladeshis, and one Ukrainian on board when it was seized by pirates last May, the state-run BBC reported.

The pirates attacked the tanker with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades about 120 miles south of the Oman coast while it was en route from India to Belgium.

Around $5.5m (â‚¬4.2m) was paid on Sunday, the ship and crew were released on Monday, according to Kenya-based officials said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Marida Marguerite was sailing to safe waters, Andrew Mwangura, the head of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said.

On Monday, pirates seized another German-owned ship, the Ems River. The cargo ship was on its way to Greece from Dubai at the time of the attack.

The Somali pirates are currently holding 25 vessels and 587 hostages.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Since that time, pirate attacks have become a common occurrence in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, despite the presence of warships protecting cargo ships in the sea lanes.