'Five pirates drowned' after supertanker's release

They are reported to have died with their share of the $3 million (Dh11.1m) ransom after their small boat capsized.

MOGADISHU // Five Somali pirates who released a Saudi supertanker have drowned with their share of a reported $3 million (Dh11.1m) ransom after their small boat capsized, reports say. Daud Nure, a pirate who was not part of the pirate operation but knows those involved, said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden. He said three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Jamal Abdulle, a resident of Haradhere, confirmed that the boat sank. He said the eight's portion of the ransom money was lost. The pirates freed the Saudi supertanker yesterday, bringing an end to the world's biggest ship hijacking. The capture of the Sirius Star and its $100m cargo of crude in November drew attention to a surge in piracy off Somalia that has brought global navies rushing to protect one of the world's most important shipping lanes. Farah Osman, speaking from Haradheere port near where the tanker had been held, said the pirates had wanted more money but finally agreed on $3m for the ship. "The last batch of gunmen have disembarked from the Sirius Star. She is now steaming out to safe waters," said Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance programme, based in the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There was no immediate comment from Vela International, the Dubai-based shipping arm of Saudi Aramco, which operates the ship. The Sirius Star was captured in November with 25 crew members, 450 nautical miles south-east of Kenya in the boldest seizure to date by Somali pirates. The rampant piracy off Somalia worsened dramatically in 2008 as an Islamist insurgency fuelled chaos onshore. The piracy in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes has sent shipping insurance prices soaring, made some owners choose to go around South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, and brought an unprecedented deployment of international warships to the region. The crew of the Sirius are from Britain, Poland, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. The US Navy, which has had a warship close to the Sirius monitoring the saga, could not immediately confirm its release. "The pirates are now arguing about division of the money," said Mr Osman, their associate. * AP and Reuters