Hijacked Saudi oil tanker reaches north Somalia

DUBAI: A Saudi supertanker with a USD 100 million oil cargo, hijacked by Somali pirates, has reached the coast of north Somalia, the US Navy has said while dismissing reports that the vessel has been freed.

The US Navy, which earlier reported the hijacking, said it had no information that the vessel had been released.
Its assertion came after Abu Dhabi-based Al Arabiya television channel said the Sirius Star had been freed, citing an unnamed official Saudi source.

Saudi Aramco, which owns the vessel, also said it had no knowledge of any release. Meanwhile, a regional maritime group said today that circumstances suggest that the vessel is safe and might be off Eyl.

"Some people are saying they have spotted a huge vessel off Eyl. It must be the supertanker," Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Association told Al-Arabiya.

The Sirius Star has a capacity to carry two million barrels of crude oil. The 318,000 dead weight tonnes Very Large Crude Carrier is the largest vessel to be seized in piracy in the region.

The oil supertanker was fully loaded and was headed to the US Gulf when hijacked off the east coast of Africa.
The capture of the Sirius 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya's Mombasa port is being described as the boldest strike to date by Somali pirates.

The pirates succeeded in hijacking the vessel despite an international naval response to protect the shipping lanes off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.