-
Source: Reuters -
Related
Somali pirates have freed a Spanish tuna fishing boat hijacked six weeks ago, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, and a pirate said a ransom had been paid for the boat and its crew.
"The sailors of the Alakrana are free and will be coming home," Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid, soon after news that pirates had seized another ship , a Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker heading for Mombasa.
Earlier, one of the pirates said that Spain had agreed a ransom of $3.5 million for the Alakrana, which was seized on October 2, one of at least 13 ships held off the Somali coast along with more than 230 crew as hostages.
"The agreement between us and Spain looks satisfactory and we hope it will finish in safety," the pirate, who gave his name as Nor, said by phone from the pirate haven Haradheere.
Asked whether a ransom had been paid, Zapatero did not answer directly but said "the government has done what it had to do."
Previously, the pirates had said the vessel would not be freed unless two suspected Somali gunmen captured by the Spanish navy near the tuna ship were freed.
Charges laid
On Tuesday, a court in Madrid charged the two Somalis with armed robbery and kidnapping.
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but the Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months. Attacks off the Seychelles surged when pirates extended their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa.
The multinational naval force operating in the area said that pirates had seized a Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker with 28 North Korean crew members 180 miles northwest of the Seychelles.
The naval force said the 22,294 DWT tanker, the MV Theresa VIII operated from Singapore, had been sailing to the Kenyan port of Mombasa but had turned round after being seized near the Indian Ocean archipelago and was now heading north.
Pirates in Haradheere said they had hijacked the ship on Tuesday.
World News Video
-
Dangerous rush to Everest summit (1:59)
-
Dozens killed in Syrian massacre (2:09)
-
'King of Romance' competes in Eurovision (1:46)
