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Somali pirates treating hijacked crew 'like prisoners of war'

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-25 16:12

Crew members on board a hijacked oil tanker are being treated like "prisoners of war", according to one of the Somali pirates holding them to ransom.

Related readings:  Shippers urge naval blockade of Somali coast  Dealing with Somali pirates

Chief engineer Peter French, from County Durham, and second officer James Grady, from Renfrewshire, are among 25 people being held on the Saudi-owned Sirius Star.

The pirate, calling himself Daybad, told the BBC: "They are fine. We are treating them according to the charter of how you treat prisoners of war.

"They are allowed to contact their families. The crew are not prisoners, they can move from place to place, wherever they want to, they can even sleep on their usual beds and they have their own keys.

"The only thing they are missing is their freedom to leave the ship."

Speaking by telephone from the ship, "Daybad" also said no company, such as the supertanker owners Vela International, had been in contact to negotiate, only people claiming to be intermediaries who "cannot be trusted".

"We captured the ship for ransom, of course, but we don't have anybody reliable to talk to directly about it," he said.

Daybad denied reports that the pirates have demanded $25 million for the hostages' safe release, but would not say how much money was involved.

The British and Saudi governments last week issued pleas to the Saudi owners of the Sirius Star not to pay a ransom.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "There is a strong view of the British Government, and actually the international community, that payments for hostage-taking are only an encouragement to further hostage-taking."

The Sirius Star was attacked on Nov 15, 420 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia and the pirates took it to a stronghold near the town of Eyl.

The 1,080ft (330m) long 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.

Watched by his captors, the ship's Polish captain, Marek Nishky, told the BBC: "I would say there is not a reason for complaints.

"We were given already the opportunity to talk to our families and today I was negotiating with a gentleman here (about) another such possibility."

On Friday, Maersk, the world's largest shipping company, announced its oil tankers would make a major detour via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the pirate-plagued waters off the Somali coast.

The move came as the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) said it supported operators' decisions to avoid the area and called on governments to protect "vital trade lanes".

"Our concern remains for the safety of seafarers and for the lack of effective naval protection," it said in a statement. "We need immediate action from governments to protect these vital trade lanes -- robust action in the form of greater naval and military support with a clear mandate to engage, to arrest pirates and to bring them to trial."

Also last week the UN approved a British proposal to impose new sanctions against Somalia in a bid to cut off the pirate gangs and called on the security council to recommend the freezing of assets of individuals and organisations.