Pirates release Stolt, crew on way home

NEW DELHI: Hijacked Japanese merchant ship MT Stolt Valor, with 18 Indians among its crew of 22, was freed on Sunday. All the seafarers, taken hostage by Somali pirates two months ago, are safe and on their way home ending the agonising wait of their families.

The vessel was released reportedly after prolonged negotiations and a ransom paid by the Japanese company to the pirates, though there was no official confirmation on the amount. NUSI chairman Abdul Gani refused to go into details about the release but said, ���definitely ransom has been paid.��� He said the sailors did not have any medical problems.
The cargo ship, which also had a Bangladeshi, two Filipinos and one Russian on board, is managed by the Fleet Marine Ltd in Mumbai and is expected to reach the city���s shores within the next 3-4 days.

The hijacking of the ship had led to a campaign by relatives of the sailors, spearheaded by Seema Goyal, captain Prabhat Goyal���s wife, demanding steps by the government to ensure their early release. It was following this hijacking that Indian warships started patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

A month after the sailors were taken captive, Ms Goyal said that in a telephone call she received from the ship, the pirates demanded a ransom of $2.5 million within 48 hours. They said the seafarers will be killed if their demand was not fulfilled. ���I got an official information from DG shipping that the ship has been released by the hijackers,��� she said.

The cargo ship, owned by a Japanese company and managed by Fleet Marine in Mumbai, was hijacked by the armed Somali pirates on September 15. The hijackers had demanded a ransom of $6 million for the release of the crew and later had brought the amount down to $2.5 million.

Piracy off the Somalian coast has become a menace for merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden. Last week, the India Navy thwarted pirate attacks on an Indian merchant vessel. Two days later, India suggested a UN peacekeeping force under the ���unified command��� to counter increasing attacks in the region.
Faced with charges of inaction by sections of media, human rights activists and several political groups, the Manmohan Singh Government had gone on the defensive saying it viewed the Somali pirates as terrorists and as a policy will not negotiate with them.