MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali pirates released an oil-laden Saudi supertanker after receiving a $3 million ransom, a negotiator for the bandits said Friday. A photo appeared to show the money delivered by parachute to the ship's deck. The MV Sirius Star, a brand new tanker with a 25-member crew, was seized in the Indian Ocean Nov. 15 in a dramatic escalation of the high seas piracy that has plagued the shipping lanes off Somalia. Mohamed Said, a negotiator with the pirates that held the Saudi tanker, told The Associated Press by telephone the ship had been released and was traveling to "safe waters." The U.S. Navy issued a photo taken Friday by one of its air crew of a parachute apparently dropping the ransom from a small aircraft to the Sirius. The ship owner, Vela International Marine Ltd., declined to comment on the reported release. But Poland, which has some of its nationals among the tanker's crew, said it had official confirmation from the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Kenya that the Sirius Star had been released by the hijackers. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iPPJ5oeH8vFtPkAUfYR0QS4NEbcQD95JPJE00
Bad move... giving the pirates what they want. If they were bad before, just imagine how bold they'll be now.
Indeed, who knows what they will hijack next, maybe a US aircraft carrier (Of course that would be impossible, would it?)
Now that would be fun to watch. Something tells me that could end the piracy problem real fast. Talk about a major woops.
It is now said that one of the escape boats flipped over in the high seas, with at least 5 pirates missing and also much of the money....
Flipped over in rough seas, eh? Leaves one to wonder if there may have been more than money in the package. Oh well, so much for the pirates profit margin.
ABC News Somali pirates drown with ransom Aljazeera.net, Qatar - 5 hours ago Six members of a group of Somali pirates who hijacked and later released a Saudi-owned oil tanker are reported to have drowned along with their share of a ... Somali pirates drown with ransom after freeing Saudi supertanker Telegraph.co.uk Six pirates drown leaving freed Saudi supertanker AFP 5 Somali pirates drown with ransom share WZTV CBC.ca - AHN all 1,492 news articles »
According to a Jan. 11 report from Associated Press, the body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship. Five pirates drowned Jan. 9 when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3m ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. (Source: Associated Press) Easy come, easy go ...
"Did that incident put some pressure on the pirates...?" Yes. This incident has emabarrassed the Somali government maritime agency to the point they are considering imposing a requirement for all pirates to hold a STCW BST and fast rescure boat certification. Captains of pirate vessels may be required to complete an online course to obtain an MCA approved yachtmaster certificate. The imposition of these new certification requirements has already started a rush to create storefront training schools for the expected flood of pirates entering the industry. A Somali government spokesman speaking on condition of anonymity while loading the recovered cash into an unmarked vehicle on the beach said, "We must not let this happen again. The safety of our young seafarers is critical to the future of Somalia." Somali and Yemen pirate union spokespersons were unavailable for comment though some sources state that this tragedy resulted from lax government oversight of this very lucrative business. Rank and file pirate's union members have long complained of a shortage of safety equipment and training courses.
I've got some "Save The Bales" T-shirts left over from Miami in the 80's and am thinking of setting up a booth over there. Do you know who to contact there for a Pirate Peddler license.
Reuter's report Pirates Drowned as Boat sinks with Ransom Money In a weird development, six members of a group of Somali pirates, who released the Saudi Super tanker, MV Sirius Star after receiving the ransom of $3 million, were drowned with the money, when their boat overturned off Kenyan coast. The boat was overloaded with 14 pirates. Six pirates were drowned, while 8 others survived after swimming for hours. The dead bodies of the pirates are not recovered yet. The Sirius Star, owned by oil giant Aramco, was carrying crude oil worth $100m when it was hijacked on November 15. It was released by the pirates today and is heading back towards its destination. All of the 25 crew members are reportedly safe.
Slow news day? (see posts from 1/10). BTW It's called Karma. If they didn't believe in it maybe they should.
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