Friday, March 27, 2009
An unknown sum of money was delivered by aircraft on Friday afternoon and the MV Longchamp, captured on January 29, was set to be released afterwards, Ecoterra International said in a statement.
"If no last minute glitch occurs, the vessel should be free to sail in a few hours after the last pirate has left," it said.
The MV Longchamp was hijacked while under navy escort with its crew of 12 Filipino and an Indonesian captain and a cargo of liquified petroleum gas on its way to the Far-East from Europe.
Ransom-hunting Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the region last year, an increase of more than 200 per cent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
The number and success rate of pirate attacks has declined slightly since the start of the year, because of unfavourable sea conditions and an increased foreign naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.
Source: Agence France-Presse, March 27, 2009