Somali pirates freed last Saturday a Greek-owned, Cyprus-flagged ship and its crew of 24 Filipinos seized last January about 500 miles south-west of Oman while it was en route to India from Jordan.
Reports said the release of the 52,163-ton merchant vessel MV Eagle and its crew was made possible by the payment of about $6 million in ransom.
To date, there are 99 Filipino seafarers on board 11 vessels still being held by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
While the period 2000 to 2007 saw an average 26 acts of reported piracy per year off the coast of Somalia, the number jumped to 111 in 2008 and quadrupled to over 400 in 2009 and 2010 affecting ships off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, and further into the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
In 2010 alone, approximately 790 crew members were taken hostage.
Most of the hijackings end without casualties with ransom being paid, but often after several months of negotiations.
The Gulf of Aden, a body of water between Somalia and Yemen, is the main sea route between Europe and Asia. Tankers carrying Middle East oil through the Suez Canal must pass first through the Gulf of Aden.
Pirate gangs operating along Somalia's 1,900-mile-long coastline have become increasingly audacious over the past two years, hijacking dozens of merchant ships and their crews.
Somali pirates are making millions of dollars in ransoms. Despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international maritime authorities have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean, owing to the vast distances involved.
The economic cost of piracy has been pegged at $7 billion to $12 billion per year, with shippers facing rising insurance costs that threaten to raise commodity prices.
Source: www.mb.com.ph
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