Pirates free Saudi supertanker

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Last updated on: January 10, 2009 18:49 IST

After 56 days in captivity, the Saudi supertanker seized in the world's biggest ship hijacking was freed by Somali pirates for a USD 3 million ransom and is set to leave on Saturday.

The oil ship was released by the pirates on Friday.

"All our people have now left the Sirius Star. The ship is free, the crew is free," Mohamed Said, one of the leaders of the pirate group have been quoted as saying.

"No member of the crew or of the pirates was hurt during this hijacking." The crew of the Sirius Star is made up of 25 people from Britain, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Poland.

According to a Saudi Okaz report, there was no immediate comment from Vela International, the Dubai-based shipping arm of Saudi Aramco, which operates the ship.

However, Saudi ambassador in Nairobi Nabeel Khalaf Ashoor said the embassy was not approached, neither by the tanker's owners nor the mediators who negotiated for its release.

Abu Bakr Ahmad, the manager of Haradheere port near where the Sirius Star was held, said the pirates received $3 million in ransom from the owners.

The Sirius Star was captured in November with 25 crew members, 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya in the boldest seizure to date by Somali pirates.

The capture of the tanker and its USD 100 million cargo of crude in November drew attention to a surge in piracy off Somalia that has brought global navies rushing to protect one of the worlds most important shipping lanes.

The US Navy said on Thursday it was planning to launch a force to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden, an offshoot of an earlier mission.

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