INFORM

Somali pirates who captured a North Korean-flagged Libyan cargo ship have demanded a three-million-dollar ransom and threatened to kill its crew, maritime officials said on Sunday.

The 4,800-tonne vessel, owned by Libya's White Sea Shipping, was attacked in the northwestern Gulf of Aden, south of the Yemeni coast, in February.

"Captors of the MV Rim are demanding three million dollars of ransom to release the ship and its 10 Syrian crew," Andrew Mwangura, who works for a seamen's aid programme in Mombasa, Kenya, told AFP.

"They are threatening to kill the hostages."

The Rim was not registered with authorities monitoring the Indian Ocean area between Somalia and the Arabian peninsula, and nothing is known about its cargo or where it was headed when it was attacked.

After it was captured, pirates took the vessel to an area off the town of Laasgoray, on the border between Somalia's breakaway regions of Somaliland and Puntland.

Somali pirates have become a chronic hazard for shipping in the region. They hijack vessels exclusively for ransom payments, which are regularly made.