Monday, June 04, 2007

A maritime official from neighbouring Kenya says the pirates killed the crewman because the ship's owners had failed to pay a ransom demand.

The Taiwanese trawler has been held by pirates for three weeks.

It was seized off the coast of Somalia and taken into inshore waters, where no rule of law exists.

Kenyan Seafarers Assistance Programme head Andrew Mwangura said the pirates had told him one of the crew had been killed because the ship's owners had failed to pay a ransom to get the vessel and its crew released.

There are reported to be have been 12 Chinese and two Taiwanese crew on board. The nationality of the man who was killed is not known.

In the meantime another ship, a Danish freighter with a crew of five, is also said to have been seized by pirates.

En route to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, it was last reported to have altered course towards the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia's waters are reported to be among the most dangerous in the world.

Islamists cracked down on the pirates last year but they were removed from power in the capital, Mogadishu, last December.

Source: BBC, June 04, 20074

nuune @ 6/5/2007 8:54 AM EST  the pirates are immune from american bombardment. You know why? they work for Yeey and Gacmo-Dheere and the Puntland fiefdom

hanixin1 @ 6/5/2007 4:04 AM EST  What else can we expect from criminal warlords led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Gedi. The only thing they can create is instability and chaos in which they thrive on. It is a well-documented fact that these pirates work for the warlords and its another means to continue with their criminal enterprise. Ordinary pirates would not get sattelite monitoring and phones. The only reason that the courts succeeded in stopping this evil practice is they wanted to stop all criminal activities.

iisho jeylaani @ 6/5/2007 2:02 AM EST  sahalsiidii wat r u talking about? r they poor ppl? why they came to fish in our water without permition? ilwaad i agree with ya sis.waxay ka faaiideysanayay wadanka aan dowlad laheyn. cid walbo waxay rabta ka suubisay badeena sida ugaarsiga,,,,,, iyo in ay wasaq ku shubaan our beloved indian ocean,,,,,,hala qabtaa sheegee hala dilo najista,

sahalsiidi @ 6/4/2007 5:03 PM EST  Are we apologizing for the killing of this poor man, who is just a worker. Apologizing for this kind of acts shows what kind of low life you are, and the low value you have in life in general, sadly.

anti-traitors @ 6/4/2007 3:45 PM EST  May be he fought back and he was trying to be hero.Those mooryaanis usually dont kill hostages.<<< qofkiiba lacag beey ku raadsanaayaan. Dantooda kuma jirto ineey dilaan.