Hijacked ship Stolt Valor released, Indian sailors safe

Mumbai/New Delhi, Nov 16 (PTI) Hijacked ship M T Stolt Valor along with 18 Indian sailors on board was Sunday released by Somali pirates following payment of an unspecified amount of "ransom" two months after the vessel was taken captive in the Gulf of Aden.

The ship and the Indian sailors have been released and
"there is no major medical problem (among the crew members)",
National Union of Seafarers of Indian (N.U.S.I.) General
Secretary Abdul Gani told PTI from Hong Kong.

Gani, who had gone to Hong Kong for negotiations on
the release of the ship carrying 23,818 tonnes oil products,
refused to go into specifics but said, "definitely ransom has
been paid but we will not be able to go into details of the
amount."

The ship will take some time to clear the danger zone
and reach safe waters, he said, thanking the Indian navy for
its presence in the area. "We appreciate the efforts of the
Indian Navy. Definitely it (ship) would be escorted out safely
from the danger zone."

Seema Goel, wife of Capt of the ship Prabhat Goel,
told PTI, "I got an official information from Director
General, Shipping, that the ship has been released by the
hijackers today. They will be reaching India in another
four-five days".

Asked whether any ransom was paid for the release,
Goel, who is in Dehradun, said she had no information how the
release was secured.

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

Asked as to when the crew member would return to
Mumbai, Gani said, "there will be probably a change of crew
and they will be flown to Mumbai as they have already endured
enough for the last two months".

As reports about freeing of the crew members came in,
there was jubilation in Mumbai and Dehradun among family
members of the sailors who had spent an agonising time in the
last two months.

On the ransom issue, Gani said, "I will not go into the
details of the amount but definitely the entire exercise has
been big business for Somali pirates and definitely the ransom
has been paid but we will not be able to go into details of
the amount."

He said, "I had gone to Hong Kong for negotiations on
the release of the ship. We all have heaved a collective sigh
of relief now that the ordeal is over".

Reacting to the development, Union Shipping Minister
T.R. Baalu said that he had requested Defence Minister A.K.
Antony and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to
extend help in getting the sailors in the hijacked ship
released.

He said the Indian Navy has sent a warship to the Gulf
of Aden where the ship had been hijacked.

Observing that efforts should be made to ensure that
such incidents do not recur, Baalu said, "there was no
government (in Somalia). Had there been one, we could have
opened diplomatic channel to solve this issue. Everyone had
come in handy to see that the vessel was freed from the
pirates".

Officials from the ship's manning agent, Ebony Ship
Management, had earlier said that the vessel had recently
arrived the east coast of Somalia under instructions from the
hijackers. Of the 18 Indians on board, the passports of 13
sailors were made in Mumbai.

They said the ship was hijacked from the designated
safety corridor. It was close to the northern limit of the
corridor, the farthest from the Somalian coast, they said.
PTI TEAM