Somali forces to storm hijacked ship, Yemeni owner says

Nov 26, 2008, 13:13 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - The owner of a Yemeni ship hijacked by Somalian pirates a week ago said Wednesday that Somalian security forces were preparing to storm the vessel, as he had refused to pay the demanded ransom.

The ship, Erina, was attacked as it sailed from the south-eastern Yemeni port city of Mukalla to the Indian Ocean island of Socotra on November 19. It is now off the Eyl port, in the semi-autonomous Puntland region in northern Somalia.

'Security troops were sent from Bosasso to Eyl to rescue the ship by force,' ship-owner Attas Salim Aboud, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa by telephone from Mukalla.

The vessel is now being blockaded by Somali forces, Aboud said.

Independent confirmation of the action by Somali authorities was not immediately available.

Aboud said the troops were backed by dozens of tribesmen who had rushed to Eyl to press for the ship's release.

'The pirates are now surrounded and could not get even food supplies,' Aboud said.

He said the ship 'will be stormed' if the pirates insist on their ransom demand.

The pirates have demanded 2 million dollars in ransom for the release of the vessel.

Aboud, a Yemeni national of Somali origin, said on Tuesday he would not pay any ransom for the release of his ship.

'We will not pay even ten cents for the pirates,' he told dpa, adding that tribal chieftains boarded the ship Tuesday, and that they were negotiating with the pirates.

Eight crew members (three Yemenis, three Somalis and two from Tanzania) were taken hostage by the pirates.

The ship is carrying 570 tons of steel and construction equipment belonging to the Juraiba and Bin-Makhzoum Construction company in Mukalla.

This was the largest Yemeni ship to be hijacked by Somali pirates. In the past few months pirates have attacked fishing boats owned by Yemeni fishermen in the Gulf of Aden.

Somali pirates Wednesday lowered their ransom demands for the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying military equipment that was hijacked in September.