Oil Tanker & Crew Released Without Ransom

The hijacking of the Comoros-flagged tanker Aris 13 was the first  seizure of a large commercial vessel off Somalia since 2012.

Eight Sri Lankan crew members  were in the tanker. Originally they demanded ransom.   This was confirmed by the European Union  stating that  the pirates had been holding the crew captive and demanding a ransom. Puntland naval forces had been dispatched to the area not to free the ship by force but to cut off any supplies to the pirates.

Earlier Thursday (16), Naval forces clashed with the pirates after they opened fire.  Local  elders  and local officials  had  negotiations with the pirates  successfully. As a result  they  have  released the ship with crew members  without  payment of  ransom money. Abdirizak Mohamed Ahmed, the director of Puntand anti-piracy agency, has also confirmed the release of the ship on  Thursday night and said naval forces had boarded it to escort it to port.