06 Oct 2009

Somali pirates release a Turkish ship, hijacked almost three months ago, after receiving a ransom of 1.5 million dollars.

The bulk carrier, the Horizon-1, seized on July 8 with 23 crew members aboard, and carrying sulphate en route to Saudi Arabia from Jordan, was released on Monday, Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program confirmed.

"We accepted USD 1.5 million to release the Turkish ship," one of the pirates, who identified himself as Abshir, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"We delayed leaving because of accounting; we were sharing out the money. We disembarked from the ship this afternoon," he said.

This is while, Nilgun Yamaner, a lawyer for Horizon Shipping, told the Anatolia news agency that the amount of money paid in ransom was much higher than what was stated.

Yamaner, however, refused to disclose the amount citing security reasons. A lawyer for Horizon Shipping had earlier said that the pirates were demanding USD 20 million in ransom for the release of the ship, Today's Zaman reported.

Last Friday, after a month long lull, Somali pirates hijacked a Spanish tuna fishing vessel with 36 crew members in the Indian Ocean, some 360 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia.

Somali pirates continue to re-emerge despite a growing anti-piracy mission in the region, piling millions of dollars in ransoms paid to secure the release of ships seized in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

presstv