Somalian pirates free supertanker

Somalian pirates today announced they had released a Saudi supertanker seized last year with its $100m (€74m) cargo.

The Sirius Star, hijacked in the Indian ocean in November, was carrying two British crewmen.

The 330 metre ship, owned by the shipping arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco, is the largest yet taken among the scores of vessels held by pirates in the region.

“All our people have now left the Sirius Star. The ship is free, the crew is free,” Mohamed Said, one of the leaders of the pirate group, told the AFP news agency.

“There were last-minute problems but now everything has been finalised.

“No member of the crew or of the pirates was hurt during this hijacking.”

The ransom paid for the ship’s release has not been revealed. The pirates originally demanded $25m (€18m) but recently that appeared to have been reduced to $3.5m (€2.5m).