03.05.2011
Somali pirates released Indonesian ship Sinar Kindus with 20 crewmen on board, having received $4.5 mln ransom dropped from a helicopter, reports Associated Press. None of crewmembers suffered.
Bulker
Sinar Kindus was captured 320 nautical miles (593 km) northward Socotra archipelago located near Somalia on March 16.
Earlier in the past week Somali pirates released Greek vessel
Eagle also for a ransom. There were 24 Filipinos on board the vessel. Cyprus-flagged dry cargo ship
Eagle was hijacked in Jan 2011. Pirates used firearms and grenades while the assault.
According to European anti-piracy mission EU NAVFOR, the 52,163-ton vessel was sailing from Jordan to India when captured 490 nautical miles (907.5 km) southward Salalah (Oman).
The situation off Somali coast has not been improved throughout 2010 and beginning of 2011. Moreover, sea robbers regularly obtain multimillion ransoms for hijacked ships, which gives them additional motivation to carry out attacks.
