Somali pirates have released the Saudi super-tanker abducted in mid November off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation, a pirate member said Friday.
"We have let the Sirius Star and its crew free and all our men are on land," Mohamed Abdullah, a member of the pirate group that held the Saudi oil tanker told Xinhua by phone from the central Somali port town of Harardhere.
He did not rule out taking ransom in exchange for the release of the giant oil tanker that was laden with 2 million barrels of crude oil and had been destined to the United States before it was hijacked by Somali pirates on Nov. 15.
Other sources in Harradhere said that the pirates set the ship free after receiving nearly 3 million U.S. dollars after weeks of negotiations with ship owners and operators.
The Sirius Star was hijacked about 780 kilometers off Somalia in the Indian Ocean and was carrying 25 crew members. The ship was sailing under a Liberian flag and its 25-member crew include citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.
Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) based in Mombasa, east Kenya, said earlier Friday the Sirius Star started moving away from the coast since Thursday.
"The Sirius Star has been moving slowly since Thursday. This means the vessel might have been freed by the Somali pirates on Thursday," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.
"The vessel which has been moving away from the coast since Thursday is heading towards south-east. The vessel might have been released and the ship owners might have paid 3 million U.S. dollar ransom but I'm not certain about this (ransom)," said Mwangura.
Sirius Star is the largest ship pirates have hijacked along the east Africa coast. The incident raised international concern of the escalating piracy activities off the coast of the war-torn east African nation.
Most attacks have been in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and north Somalia, a major route leading to the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2009)