Sana'a, Yemen - The owner of a Yemeni ship hijacked by
Somalian pirates a week ago said Wednesday that Somalian security
forces were preparing to storm the vessel, as he had refused to pay
the demanded ransom.
The ship, Erina, was attacked as it sailed from the south-eastern
Yemeni port city of Mukalla to the Indian Ocean island of Socotra on
November 19. It is now off the Eyl port, in the semi-autonomous
Puntland region in northern Somalia.
'Security troops were sent from Bosasso to Eyl to rescue the ship
by force,' ship-owner Attas Salim Aboud, told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa by telephone from Mukalla.
The vessel is now being blockaded by Somali forces, Aboud said.
Independent confirmation of the action by Somali authorities was
not immediately available.
Aboud said the troops were backed by dozens of tribesmen who had
rushed to Eyl to press for the ship's release.
'The pirates are now surrounded and could not get even food
supplies,' Aboud said.
He said the ship 'will be stormed' if the pirates insist on their
ransom demand.
The pirates have demanded 2 million dollars in ransom for the
release of the vessel.
Aboud, a Yemeni national of Somali origin, said on Tuesday he
would not pay any ransom for the release of his ship.
'We will not pay even ten cents for the pirates,' he told dpa,
adding that tribal chieftains boarded the ship Tuesday, and that
they were negotiating with the pirates.
Eight crew members (three Yemenis, three Somalis and two from
Tanzania) were taken hostage by the pirates.
The ship is carrying 570 tons of steel and construction equipment
belonging to the Juraiba and Bin-Makhzoum Construction company in
Mukalla.
This was the largest Yemeni ship to be hijacked by Somali
pirates. In the past few months pirates have attacked fishing boats
owned by Yemeni fishermen in the Gulf of Aden.
Somali pirates Wednesday lowered their ransom demands for the MV
Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying military equipment that was
hijacked in September.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story