Pirates demand $8m for Malaysian ship

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Sep 2011

Somali pirates have demanded a ransom payment of millions of dollars for the release of a Malaysian-owned container vessel, which was hijacked last November.

The pirates are said to be demanding $8 million in ransom to free MV Albedo cargo ship and its 23 crew members, Pakistani Geo News network reported on Wednesday.
Somali pirates seized MV Albedo some 900 nautical miles east off the coast of Somalia in November 2010 as the vessel was en route to Kenya after setting sail from the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, the family of Muhammad Mujtaba, the chief officer of the Malaysian-flagged ship, has re-launched a struggle for the release of the Pakistani sailor.
Neelum Mujtaba, accompanied by her three daughters and an infant son, has arrived in Karachi from their hometown of Mansehra on Tuesday to explore avenues for the release of her husband.
Mujtaba said the release of the four Pakistani crew members of Panama-flagged MV Suez merchant ship in June inspired her to try her best.
However, her efforts soon fell short as she was living in a far-off town with no senior official around and no access to the media.
“I finally took my children and made contacts with the six other families, whose loved ones are in captivity with my husband, and arrived in Karachi to launch my efforts anew,” Mujtaba said.
Attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.
Somalia has been in strife since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, it has been embroiled in a bitter civil war for years.
The lawless state has been without a functioning government ever since and the authority of the so-called Transitional Federal Government is limited mostly to the area around the capital city, Mogadishu.
Source: Press TV