Report: Somalian pirates demand $8-M ransom for tanker with Pinoy crew

Pirates are demanding $8 million in ransom for the freedom of the crew of a chemical tanker they hijacked last November, a Somalian news site reported Tuesday.

 

The Somalia Report said the demand for ransom for the Greek-owned MT Liquid Velvet came 49 days after the pirates hijacked the vessel last November 1.

 

“My friends had a long discussion over the ransom, taking more than a month, finally they agreed to demand $8 million as a ransom,” Faysal, a well known pirate in Garacad, told Somalia Report.

 

He added the crew "are in good health and they live alongside my friends on the vessel. Things are going well, negotiations will begin soon."

 

Twenty-one of the 22-member crew of the MT Liquid Velvet are Filipinos. The remaining crewmember is a Greek national.

 

Pirates hijacked the vessel in the Gulf of Aden while the tanker was on its way to India from the Suez.

 

Somalia Report quoted the pirates as saying the vessel was first held in the Bargaal district of Bari region, and then moved to the Garacad area of Mudug.

 

The pirates’ leader is Aw-Kombe, a well-known pirate from the Bari region belonging to the Siwaaqroon, a subclan of the Majeerteen.

 

The MT Liquid Velvet was initially known as the Liquid Challenge.

 

An earlier report on Somalia Report said the 17-year-old, Japanese built tanker has a gross tonnage of 5,998 tons and is 114 meters long. –KG, GMA News