Somali pirates release UAE cargo ship

A Sharjah-based cargo ship which was hijacked by Somali pirates while on its way to Mogadishu and Kismayu ports, has been freed, the Somali Embassy in the capital disclosed yesterday.

The vessel, "Al Ameer", was on its way from the UAE to the Somali ports with a cargo of more than 2,200 tonnes of food when it was stormed and hijacked by a band of ten armed pirates.

According to reports reaching here, the ship's engine developed some technical problem, while strong winds forced it to change its course towards the pirate-dominated coast of Eil, 250km south of Garoowi, the capital of breakaway Somaliland.

The pirates took advantage of the situation and stormed the vessel, taking all the crew members, including the captain, hostage for ransom.

The pirates asked the vessel owners for $100,000 for the safe return of the crew and the ship.
The Somali Ambassador in the capital told Gulf News yesterday that the ship has been freed with all the crew members safe and sound.

"According to my information, the ship has been released and has been escorted to Bosaso Port (at the Gulf of Eden). This is the information I can give now," said Ambassador Hussein Moham-med Bullaleh.

It could not established whether ransom was paid for the release of the crew members and the vessel, which is now berthed at Bosaso Port to prepare for its return to the UAE.

However, the ambassador said the embassy is gathering information on the latest situation.

This is the second incident within two weeks involving Somali pirates attacking and taking a cargo vessel hostage.

On June 15, gunmen boarded Cypriot-registered Panagia Tinou near Bosaso coast, which was released along with 23 Filipino seamen after the ransom payment.

According to a Filipino Overseas Workers Welfare Administration report, the crew members were released unharmed on July 3 after the ransom was paid. The report also said that gunmen had demanded half a million U.S. dollars as ransom.

Philippine Labour Secretary, Patricia Santo Tomas, said her office had received a report that ransom was paid by the vessel's insurer, but she did not know how much, a Manila-based daily reported.

The vessel was carrying a cargo of potash en route to India when it was hijacked.

The hostage-taking of "Al Ameer" is the second incident involving a UAE vessel being attacked by Somali pirates.

A few years ago, the captain of a Dubai-based cargo dhow was killed by pirates, also near Bosaso. Haji Abdullah of Dubai-registered Al Waleed dhow, the captain, was killed by pirates when he took over the steering in order to accelerate and escape the attackers.

The pirates chased the empty dhow, which was on its way to Bosaso to get a cargo of Somali goats, in speedboats. They boarded the dhow and opened fire with automatic rifles, killing Haji Abdullah.

After the attack, the pirates took the dhow to Bosaso port where they abandoned it.