Pirates holding a Ukrainian weapon-laden ship with the crew off the coast of Somalia are close to negotiating a deal for the vessel's release. A group of estimated 50 pirates seized the Ukrainian freighter called MV Faina, about 200 miles off the coast of Somalia, on September 25, initially demanding USD 35 million as ransom. The ransom was later reduced to USD 20 million.
"A deal might be sealed by Wednesday and then we will issue a statement regarding the end of the matter," AFP quoted a pirate spokesman as saying Tuesday. Sugule Ali would not comment on the amount of ransom being negotiated.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the pirates may have further reduced the ransom demand. "There are high hopes we will release the ship within hours if they pay us USD 8 million," Jama Aden, a pirate onboard the ship told AP. Statements made by Aden, who reportedly answered Ali's phone, could not be verified.
The Faina was reportedly carrying 33 T-72 tanks, munitions, grenade launchers and other armaments to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. A surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia threatens to cripple world trade, London-based think tank Chatham House warned in a briefing paper last Wednesday.
Soaring insurance premiums for ships dispatched to the Suez Canal may prompt companies to bypass the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most important trading routes, and take the long route to Europe and North America around the Cape of Good Hope, it said.