Somali pirates are reportedly likely to release the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star within 72 hours since a ransom deal has been struck, a media report claimed on Tuesday.
“The negotiators on behalf of the owners of the Sirius Star have agreed to pay a ransom,” Abubakr Dari, one of the negotiators, said in comments published by the Saudi Gazette.
Representatives of Saudi Aramco subsidiary Vela International, which owns the supertanker, have been in contact with tribesmen and the pirates’ representatives in the Somali port of Harardhere.
Dari told the paper that the supertanker was anchored in Somalia’s Habio Port and that all the 25 crew members were well and even allowed to make phone calls to their relatives.
Yusuf Adso, secretary general of the Somali Foreign Ministry, added that while there was no certain information about a deal, “a massive effort involving a heavy presence of Somali tribesmen is being exerted to release the supertanker in the next few days”.
Somali pirates captured the Sirius Star last month with two million barrels of crude oil on board.
The news comes the day after leading Middle East ship operators revealed they are in talks to station private armed security teams on board ships passing through the Gulf of Aden in a bid to combat the threat posed by pirates.
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