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Somali pirates release Norwegian UBT Ocean

The Foreigner
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

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Although this was confirmed by Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, Svenn O. Pedersen, CEO of Brøvigtank that owns the vessel, is being more cautious with his information.

“We’re not completely in the clear before the ship is out of Somali waters. [The hijackers] aren’t people you can make a deal with or trust,” he tells NRK.

Pedersen goes on to say all 21 crew members, who are of Burmese nationality, are fine and have been monitored all along, but didn’t disclose the sum of money paid by the company. However, a Somali pirate gave Reuters more information about the ransom.

"We released the fishing ship yesterday after a $3 million ransom was paid. We also released another ship carrying fuel today and took $4 million in ransom," the pirate called Hassan said. 

The vessel UBT Ocean was hijacked on March 5, 2010, while travelling from the United Arab Emirates Fujairah port to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Source: The Foreigner