Somali Pirates Release Oman Flagged Ship

Somali pirates have released the Oman-flagged cargo ship seized off the Somali coast at the end of January, elders who negotiated the deal said on Thursday. “The vessel was released on Wednesday around 8 pm local time. No conditional ransom was paid but the pirates demanded the negotiators refund $ 20,000 they described as expenses during the time they were holding the ship, and they were given,” said Ali Farah Warfa, an elder at Eyle coastal village where the ship has held.

The ship was off-loading business cargo at Bosaso, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, when it was seized.

The businessman who leased the ship and was involved in the negotiation for its release, Abdi-risaq Ali Sa’id, said one of the seven crew members on the ship died during the seizure.

“The maintenance engineer of the ship, who was an Indonesian, died during the seizure for unknown reason.

The rest of the crew, four Indonesians and two Somalis, were safe and released,” he said.

Meanwhile, gunmen in released late on Wednesday the head of the local office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in southern Somalia, Hassan Mohamed Ali.

“I have been released unconditionally through negotiations and no ransom was paid,” Ali told APA by telephone.

“My kidnappers treated me well and now my health is okay. I have got wounds, a bullet wound in the knee and another in the neck, which I sustained when the gunmen were kidnapping me, but now my wounds have healed,” he added.

Source African Press Agency

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