Region | Somalia
Drowned Somali pirate's body washed ashore
Corpse found with $153,000 in ransom cash after boat capsized in stormy weather.
- AP
- Published: 23:41 January 11, 2009
Mogadishu, Somalia: The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 (Dh562,022) in cash, a resident said on Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.
Five pirates drowned on Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker.
Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.
"One of them was discovered and they are still looking for the other ones. He had $153,000 in a plastic bag in his pocket," he said on Sunday.
The US navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package onto the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery.
But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom.
Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the incident was unlikely to deter attacks.
"The loss or potential loss of the ransom means the pirates will be all the more keen to get the next ransom in," he said. "There are people lining up to be pirates."
Shipping: Staff paid double
Oil shippers are paying crews double to persuade them to sail through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, an official at Saudi Arabia's National Shipping Company said on Sunday.
Somali pirates have caused havoc in shipping lanes, hijacking several ships including a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of crude.
- Reuters
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