Hijacked ship: negotiations on to release crew members

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: Negotiations to secure the release of the crew members and the WFP chartered ship, seized by Somalian pirates a fortnight ago are still continuing without any major breakthrough, a Foreign Ministry sources said yesterday.

The Kenyan owned MV Rozen chartered by WFP to supply relief goods to Somalia included six Sri Lankan crew members, including the ship’s Captain and the engineer in addition to six more Kenyans.

The pirates who have demanded a ransom to release the empty vessel which was hijacked while returning to Mombasa, off loading a cargo of WFP food aid and some equipment of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at a Somalian port in Puntland, have assured that all crew members were in good health.

“Pirates took 102 days to release the crew of the vessel in the earlier instance,” referring to the hijack of MV Semlov in June 2005, also off the Somali coast, the sources said.

After intense negotiations for over 100 days the Sri Lankan captain Mahalingam and the crew was released by the pirates.

“At the moment the negotiations are on to get them released but still there is no breakthrough,” he added.

Asked if any representative from WFP or the shipping agents have been able to meet the crew to ascertain their health, the sources responded in the negative. “There have been no direct contact.”

According to him the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Nairobi is in close contact with his Somalian counterpart there to keep abreast of the developments.

The Somalian transitional federal government has also demanded the immediate release of the vessel though they have kept off from any direct contacts with the pirates.

Kenyan shipping agents are negotiating the release of the crew with the ship, that was seized by the Somalian pirates while transporting some food shipment to Somalia.