Somalian pirates release another vessel

GANDHINAGAR - Somalian pirates Wednesday released ‘Nar-narayan’, the fourth of the eight Gujarat registered cargo vessels hijacked by them last fortnight, a shipping association official said.

Haji Kasim Bholim, president of the Kutchi Vahanvatti Association, said that the vessel which was hijacked March 27 by the Somalian pirates was released near Mogadishu after it ran out of fuel.

The cargo vessel, carrying charcoal, was on its way from Mogadishu to Dubai when it was hijacked.

The 15 member crew of the vessel was safe and are still in Mogadishu, Bholim said.

Meanwhile, the cargo vessel ‘Faiz-e-Usmani’ which was released Tuesday from the custody of the pirates following a joint operation by the US and Omani navy, is expected to take time getting back to Mandvi in Gujarat.

“For the moment, the pirates as well as the crew are being questioned,” he said, adding that the post-mortem examination of the body of 23-year-old Sultan Ahmed Kicha, the lone crew member of ‘Faiz-e-Usmani’ who died when he panicked and jumped into the sea, had been completed.