Three Nigeria seafarers who were part of the 22 crew of a Dubai-owned and Nigeria-bound vessel, chemical tanker MT Royal Grace have been languishing in Puntland, a breakaway section of Somalia since their ship was hijacked off the coast of Oman on March 2, 2012.
The ill-fated ship, even though empty was reportedly sailed from Sharjah port for Nigeria.
Apart from the three Nigerians whose identities could not be ascertained as at press time, there were 17 Indians, one Pakistani and a Bangladeshi, making up the 22 crew.
Three Nigeria seafarers who were part of the 22 crew of a Dubai-owned and Nigeria-bound vessel, chemical tanker MT Royal Grace have been languishing in Puntland, a breakaway section of Somalia since their ship was hijacked off the coast of Oman on March 2, 2012.
The ill-fated ship, even though empty was reportedly sailed from Sharjah port for Nigeria.
Apart from the three Nigerians whose identities could not be ascertained as at press time, there were 17 Indians, one Pakistani and a Bangladeshi, making up the 22 crew.
“At the onset of the now-five months captivity, the Somali pirates had reportedly requested for $10Million for the crew and the ship to be released”, our foreign source told us last week, even as he disclosed that currently, the pirates have scaled down to $2Million as at last week.
Even though the identity of the Nigerian owner could no t be confirmed, it was learnt that he actually contacted ‘relevant authourities’ in the Nigerian government to assist, all to no avail. This could however not be ascertained from any official quarters.
"The owner, a Nigerian, held talks to release the ship," said Manu Chauhan, head of the Mumbai-based East India Shipping Agency, which recruited five crew members. "They demanded $10millon initially, but have now come down to $2million”, Shipping Position Daily learnt last week.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that a similar situation happened in 2010 when another Nigerian vessel; MV Yenogoa and her 11 Nigerian crew were hijacked by Somali pirates for more than 10 months.
They were later released after an undisclosed ransom was paid, even though the then-minister of foreign affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe said that government used “citizens’ diplomacy” to secure the release of the Nigerians.
Only last week, seven Pakistani hostages from the Malaysian-flagged container ship, MV Albedo, were released yesterday after more than 20 months in captivity following a ransom payment of $1.2 million to their Somali captors.
The MV Albedo, with IMO number 9041162 and built in 1993 with a dry weight of 15566ton, is owned by Malaysia-based Enrich Shipping, and was attacked by pirates on November 26, 2010 while underway from Mombasa to Jebel Ali, 293 miles west of the Maldives on the Indian Ocean.
In July 2011, the Malaysian owners told Somalia Report that negotiations to release the vessel had halted, due to the company’s inability to raise the $3.4 million ransom demanded by pirates at the time.
But last week, the pirates accepted $1.2Milliom as ransom for the seven Pakistanis.
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