Hijacked Saudi oil tanker released

The 25-member crew of supertanker are said to be safe as the two-month ordeal ends, but the perpetrators' dinghy capsizes in storm.

RIYADH // Somali pirates holding a Saudi-owned supertanker loaded with US$100 million (Dh367m) in crude oil since November freed the huge vessel yesterday morning following an apparent ransom payment, though five of the pirates drowned with their share shortly after when their boat capsized in a storm. The Sirius Star, the boldest seizure by pirates menacing the world's vital oil shipping lanes, "has been released by her captors", said a statement posted yesterday on the website of the vessel's operators, Vela International Marine Ltd. Saleh K'aki, president and chief executive officer of Dubai-based Vela, was quoted as saying that the ship's 25 crew "are safe and ? all in good health and high spirits". Vela is a shipping subsidiary of the giant oil company Saudi Aramco. A Vela spokesman, Mihir X Sapru, declined to comment when asked about press reports that the pirates, who initially demanded a $25m ransom, had been given a payment to free the vessel. Wire services, quoting sources in Somalia affiliated with the pirates, reported that the Sirius Star captors received $3m ransom. One report added that the ransom was delivered onshore on Thursday. However, a US navy spokeswoman said on Friday that "imagery" received from a US naval vessel monitoring the Sirius Star suggested that a ransom had been delivered to the ship. "It appears to us they have received payment, it looks like they had a payment drop," Lt Stephanie Murdock, spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based US Navy's Fifth Fleet, said in a telephone interview. "We expect the ship to be underway within 24 hours." The payment seemed to be confirmed by a pirate and a port town resident who said five of the pirates drowned with their share of the ransom after their dinghy capsized. The pirate, Daud Nure, said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of the pirates left the Sirius Star. He said three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Daud Nure was not part of the pirate operation but knows those involved. Jamal Abdulle, a Haradhere resident, confirmed that the boat sank. Haradhere is a Somali coastal town close to where the ship was anchored. He said the eight's portion of the ransom money was lost. The ransom was shared between dozens of pirates. The Nov 15 capture of the Sirius Star as it sailed about 833km south-east of Kenya in the Indian Ocean shocked the international maritime and oil shipping communities and drew world attention to the problem of piracy in oil shipping lanes. According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 in the waters off the coast of Somalia in 2008. Currently, nearly 300 merchant mariners are still being held captive, according to a US naval official. On Friday, pirates released an Iranian-chartered vessel that was seized in November, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported yesterday. The Hong Kong-flagged Delight with 25 crew members, which was seized on its way to Iran from Germany carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat, was released on Friday night. Fars did not say whether any ransom had been paid. Political chaos in Somalia, a country with no central government where armed groups battle each other and the population lives in poverty, has been cited by analysts as a principal cause for the increase in piracy. "The problem of piracy is and continues to be a problem that begins ashore and is an international problem that requires an international solution," Vice Adm Bill Gortney, commander of the US-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), said in an online press release. The Sirius Star's release on Saturday morning, after the last pirates left the ship, came shortly after the CMF announced the creation of a new 20-nation naval task force to target piracy in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The Saudi-owned supertanker was loaded with two million barrels of oil, then worth $100m, when it was forced by its captors to sail to the coast of Somalia, where it anchored near the port of Haradhere. The pirates then began negotiating with the ship's operator and owner over ransom. The Sirius Star's 25-member crew are from Britain, Croatia and the Philippines. One sailor is Saudi and the captain is from Poland, Agence France-Presse reported. "This has been a very trying time for them ? We are very happy to report to their families that they will be on their way home soon," Mr K'aki, the Vela CEO, said in his statement. "Throughout this ordeal, our sole objective was the safe and timely release of the crew. That has been achieved today." [e-mail] * With additional reporting by AP and Reuters