Somali pirates release ship with 26 crew members after eleven months

[News_Editor]

Somali pirates release ship with 26 crew members after eleven months

2011-03-09 22:55:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- Somali pirates released a ship carrying 26 crew members after being seized eleven months ago, Indian government sources said Wednesday.

MV RAK Afrikana, registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadine, is still said to be in the Somalian waters but all the people on board are safe. The crew members were from India, Pakistan, and Tanzania.

"We can confirm that the ship (MV Rak Afrikana) and its crew members have been freed but the ship is still in the Somalian waters," said a source from India's Shipping Ministry, as cited by Press Trust of India.

The source said the ship has developed some technical snag and will take some time to sail again, but refused to share other details.

MV RAK Afrikana was hijacked approximately 280 nautical miles west of the Seychelles on April 11, 2010 while on its way to Morali in Africa with 26 crew members on board. The pirates were demanding a ransom of seven million US dollars.

Somali pirates are currently holding at least 30 vessels and 659 hostages off the coast of Somalia, according to EUNAVFOR. The Ecoterra piracy monitoring group, however, says pirates are holding at least 49 vessels and 784 hostages.

Most hijackings usually end without casualties when a ransom has been paid. This, however, often takes many months. The longest current hijacking, according to EUNAVFOR, is of the Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1 which was hijacked on March 29, 2010 with 24 crew members.

In recent years, Somali pirates have hijacked hundreds of ships, taking in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom. Ships are patrolling the shipping lanes near Somalia in an effort to reduce hijackings, but the anti-piracy force has warned that attacks are likely to continue.

According to a recent study, maritime piracy cost the global economy up to $12 billion last year, with Somalia-based pirates responsible for 95 percent of the costs.


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