Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Some info on an Indian ship hijacked off Somalia

Reported here:
An Indian ship Bhaktisagar, which was sailing from Porbandar to Dubai via Somalia, has been hijacked in the Somalian waters along with its 22 crew members including captain Razzak Isak.

"It was hijacked between February 23 and 24," the owner of the ship, Hiren Desai, said, adding that the hijackers have demanded a ransom of Rs 4 lakh for its release.
And here:
Alleged Somalian pirates have set a ransom of $400,000†to release Indian cargo ship Bhaktisagar and its 21-man crew.

The cargo ship, which left Porbandar early February, was scheduled to reach Mogadishu in Somalia by February third week, but nothing was heard from it since then till its owner Udaybhai Natwarbhai Bhabha received an e-mail message from Somalia asking for the ransom money.

When contacted,†Bhabha told UNI Tuesday that the identity of pirates or the senders of e-mail was not known so far.

He said he had informed the police and other law enforcement agencies in Delhi and has sought the assistance of other agencies too. He has intimated his associates in Dubai to help locate the ship.

Bhabha has not heard a word from the ship's captain Abdul Razaq or any of the 20 crew members.

The ship, belonging to Keyur Shipping Company, was carrying 15,000 bags of rice, 16,000 bags of cement and 5,600 bags of glucose, worth Rs 10000000. It was registered at Veraval.

No comments:

Post a Comment