Somali pirates, holding an Egyptian merchant ship and 28 crew members, have agreed to release the vessel after the company agreed to pay a ransom. Blue Star owner, Abdel Rahman Awwa, told reporters on Friday that after days of negotiations with the pirates, it has been agreed the ship will be released as soon as the ransom is paid, our Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. He said he expected the pirates to release the ship "within hours." He did not say how much the company had agreed to pay but company sources said it was more than USD 3m.
The Blue Star was seized on January 1 while it was sailing east with a cargo of 6,000 tons of the fertilizer urea. It is one of at least eight vessels which Somali pirates have hijacked from the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.