Family's joy as pirates release British crewman

The family of a British crewman held hostage by pirates on a hijacked oil tanker spoke today of their joy at his release.

Chief Engineer Peter French was among 25 crew members of the Sirius Star released on Friday after a £2m (€2.23m) ransom was reported to have been paid by the ship’s owners.

The vessel was held by pirates for two months after being captured 420 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia last November.

Speaking for the first time about her family’s ordeal, Mr French’s wife Hazel, from Co Durham, said she was looking forward to his return and thanked family and friends for their support.

She said Mr French was in good spirits and would hopefully be home soon.

Mr French and fellow Briton James Grady were among 25 people being held on the vessel near the coastal town of Haradhere.

The 1,080ft (330m) ship was fully laden with two million barrels of oil when pirates boarded it and is the largest vessel ever to be hijacked in a region which has become notorious for piracy.

The US navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package on to the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery.

But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom.

The Sirius Star had been held near the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms.

Pirates have demanded a $20m (€14.8m) ransom for the release of the ship.