Pirates release Japanese ship with Filipinos for $2M

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somali pirates holding more than a dozen merchant ships hostage released a Japanese vessel Saturday for a ransom of two million dollars, a local official said.

The Stella Maris, which was hijacked on July 20, had been loaded with lead and zinc and had a crew of some 20 Filipinos.




Pirates seize another ship off Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Pirates have seized a Greek chemical tanker with a crew of 19 off Somalia's coast, days after hijacking a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with tanks, an international anti-piracy group said Saturday.
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The Greek tanker, carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East, was ambushed Friday in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center based in Malaysia. He said pirates chased and fired at the ship before boarding it.



Captain of hijacked ship says 1 crew member dead

A Russian crew member of a hijacked Ukrainian-operated cargo ship, boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia three days ago, died of hypertension on Sunday, the captain of the vessel said.

Viktor Nikolsky reported the death to a U.S. news agency from the deck of the MV Faina via a satellite phone, provided by one of the pirates who seized the ship last Thursday.

Nikolsky also told the Associated Press he could see a U.S. ship about one kilometre from his freighter.

The U.S. navy destroyer, USS Howard, is stationed off the coast of Somalia. According to an unidentified U.S. official quoted by AP, the destroyer's crew is watching for any movement of cargo off the ship.



Somali pirates, besieged by foreign warships, demand 20 mln dlrs

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter carrying supposed Kenyan military weapons defiantly demanded 20 million dollars in ransom despite being surrounded by three foreign warships on Sunday.

The spokesman for the pirates, contacted by AFP via satellite telephone, confirmed that they were surrounded by three foreign war vessels off Somalia's central coast and said the ship's crew was "safe and not harmed."

"What we are awaiting eagerly is the 20 million dollars (13.7 million euros), nothing less, nothing more," Sugule Ali said. On Saturday, figures ranging between five and 35 million dollars had been put forward.

Ali confirmed that the ship was under siege, but he said the pirates would not give themselves up.



Warships of 2 big powers pursue Somali pirates

NAIROBI: For a moment, the pirates might have thought that they had really struck gold — Somalia-style.

The gun-toting, seafaring thieves, who routinely pounce on cargo ships bobbing along on the Indian Ocean, suddenly found themselves in command of a vessel crammed with $30 million worth of grenade launchers, piles of ammunition, even battle tanks.

But this time, they might have gotten far more than they bargained for. Unlike so many other hijackings off the coast of Somalia that have gone virtually unnoticed — and unpunished — the attack Thursday evening on the Faina, a Ukrainian vessel bringing military equipment to Kenya, has provoked the wrath of two of the most powerful militaries on the planet.

The United States Navy was in hot pursuit of the ship Friday. And the Russians were not far behind.

"This is really getting out of control," said Mohammed Osman, a Somali government official in Kenya. "You see how many countries are involved now? These pirates aren't going to get away with this."



Tensions Rise Over Ship Hijacked Off Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya — Tensions increased Sunday over what to do about the arms-carrying cargo ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia, as the pirates vowed to fight to the death, a hostage died and Somali officials urged the American Navy to send in commandos.

According to a broadcast on the BBC Somali service, the pirates said that they could see an American destroyer nearby and several military aircraft tracking them, but that they were not afraid.

“They can’t catch us like goats,” said a man who said he was a spokesman for the pirates. “We will fight, and everyone here will die with us.”



Sea piracy threatens future of global shipping industry (Sept. 2)

As the world's shipping industry grapples with the challenges of declining global trade, lack of finance, and shortage of ship crew, the industry's future is under threat due to the escalating levels of piracy along major sea trade routes, believe senior industry players.

Piracy has long been a problem in the Gulf of Aden, where one of the world's busiest shipping lanes connecting the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, passes by lawless Somalia, which has been without an effective central government since 1991.




A prisoner in 'pirate alley'

MUMBAI - In a startling throwback to 17th century days of Spanish galleons, Barbary pirates and avenging royal navies, pirates attacked a record 17 ships in the Gulf of Aden in the first two weeks of September compared to just 10 in the entire year of 2007, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center.

"This is the highest number of piracy attacks we have seen in the past five years," said Cyrus Mody, manager of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) which runs the Piracy Reporting Center, the word's nodal anti-pirate organization.
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An Indian sailor, Maria Vijayan, who was held captive by Somalian pirates for 174 days, told Asia Times Online of the existence of a pirate town called Harardheere, 400 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu.

Harardheere is a stronghold for hundreds of pirates and their families, and Cyrus Mody of the International Maritime Bureau confirmed its existence.

The other more well known modern pirate town is the port of Eyl in the Somalian region of Puntland, a modern day version of Tortuga, the 18th century Haitian island pirate town made more famous in the movie trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean .

Eyl is an infamous nest for Somali pirate-captured ships as well as a supporting industry feeding off an estimated $30 million in ransom booty that Gulf of Aden pirates bagged in 2007, a staggering indication of the extent of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.




[Meanwhile, some Somalis are trying to smuggle themselves out by boat.]

At least 52 Somali refugees dead on boat: UNHCR

The United Nations refugee agency on says least 52 Somalis died after being adrift for 18 days in a broken smuggler boat ferrying them to Yemen.

The UNHCR said Yemeni coast guards rescued 71 survivors on the boast as it drifted near the coast. Most of the dead were thrown overboard by the passengers while four survivors later died in hospital, the UNHCR said quoting survivors.

It said the boat left strife-torn Somalia with 124 passengers aboard on September 3 headed for Yemen when it broke down a few hours later.

The crew abandoned the boat on another craft and never returned. Three passengers tried to swim ashore as it drifted near the coast of southern Yemen, and two managed to alert rescuers. The third never made it.