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PIRACY: SOMALIA, SAUDI SUPER-TANKER RELEASED(ANSAmed) – NAIROBI, JANUARY 9 – Today the Saudi super oil tanker the Sirius Star, taken hostage by Somali pirates on November 15, has been released. An alleged 15 million dollars in ransom money was paid yesterday evening for its release. Reports were from the pirates themselves, but also Kenyan intelligence and maritime sources have confirmed the news. For the moment, however, the ship’s owners have not released any information. Onboard the ship there were 25 crew members: 19 Filipinos, two Poles, two Brits, a Croatian and a Saudi citizen. All of them are well, according to reports. The Sirius Star had been taken hostage in an area at a considerable distance from the area in which Somali pirates usually operate, over 1,000 km south-east of Mogadishu. It is the largest ship ever targeted by piracy, with which the ransom paid pales in comparison. The super-tanker, of a modern build, is 330 metres long and transports two million barrels of crude oil, which at the time of its being taken hostage were worth 100 million dollars. Currently, three million dollars is a bit over the average amount of ransom paid for ships worth much less. However, the entire matter was taking too long and had begun to become a ”nuisance”. Anchored off the coast of Harardhere – a small port in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region north-east of Somalia, the coasts of which are pirate territory – such a huge ship, and one constantly monitored by war ships, had become an obstacle to other piracy operations. Although official sources are displaying a great deal of caution in reporting any news (there is most likely the thorny issue of how to get onboard safely), it now seems that a breath of relief is in order concerning the risk – repeatedly dreaded – that the pirates might dump the two million barrels of crude oil into the sea, harming it and the coasts for hundreds of kilometres. Only counting last year, attacks on ships transiting between the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters (but sometimes much further south, like in the case of the Sirius Star) there were over a hundred, about fifty of which were successful. It is estimated that the ransom paid to the bandits (whose relations with Islamic rebels is not clear: officially they are against each other, but most likely there is some sort of complicity between them) at least 120 million dollars. Currently there are about 15 ships in the hands of pirates, along with about 200 crew members. The most delicate case is that of the Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship seized on September 24, which was transporting 33 T-72 armoured vehicles as well as huge quantities of heavy arms and munitions. Somali waters have become the most dangerous in the world, and international navy and air forces deployed to combat them are growing ever more. Even the EU sent a naval mission (the first in its history) on 8 December, while the US has announced the intention to set up a new, multi-national combat force to fight against the scourge of piracy. (ANSAmed).
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