A United Kingdom flag vessel that was hijacked by Somali pirates from the Gulf of Aden with 26 multinational crew members including six Indians on board in December last year was released on Thursday. The development was confirmed to the director general of shipping by the owners of the ship.
St. James Park, the 14,000- tonne freighter had been heading from Spain for Thailand when it was intercepted on December 28, 2009. The crew included six Indians, five Bulgarians, three Turkish nationals, three Filipinos, three Russians, two Romanians, two Ukrainians, one Georgian and one Polish national.
“We have received information from the owners of the vessel that the ship has been released. All the six Indian crew members are reported to be safe,” said the DG Shipping spokesperson.
A huge ransom is believed to have been paid by the owners for the release of the ship, sources said. The amount is however not yet clear. The ship will now be heading towards the Sultanate of Oman, after which the six Indian sailors will be able to return to India.
When asked why it took so long to release the crew members of the ship, Abdulgani Serang, secretary-cum-treasurer of the National Union of Seafarers of India (Nusi) said, “Pirates generally build pressure on the owners by taking some time before making any demand. Meanwhile, professional negotiators try to bargain with the pirates.
However, the pirates torture the crew members because of which the families of the crew start putting pressure on the shipping company to pay the amount asked by the pirates and get their kin released. Also, the pirates have to double check about the safety of the crew at the time of the release. So, once they are sure of that, they take the money and release the hostages.”