Tamil rebels release 25 crew members of stricken Jordan ship

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday released 25 crew of a Jordanian ship that had drifted into waters near a guerrilla stronghold in the north, a rebel spokesman said.

"We have handed over the crew to the ICRC at 10am [0430GMT]. They are going to Vavuniya by road," Daya Master, media coordinator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, told Reuters from the de facto rebel capital of Kilinochchi.

The town of Vavuniya separates the LTTE-controlled area in the north from the rest of the country. The Jordanian vessel Farah III, carrying a cargo of rice, drifted off the Mullaittivu coast in the island's war-torn northeast early on Saturday after mechanical failure.

The ship had become the latest flashpoint in fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE in the north and the east of the island that has forced thousands of people to flee.

The military accused the Tamil Tigers of forcibly boarding the vessel while it was adrift with a cargo of 14,000 tonnes of rice bound for South Africa from India. LTTE's Daya Master said the ship was still off Mullaittivu.