New Delhi: Somali pirates who are holding the international crew of Japanese ship Stolt Valor hostage have reduced their ransom demand from $6 million to $2.5million.
Seema Goyal, the wife of Captain P K Goel who is among the 22 hostages, has said this in Delhi. The Japanese-owned tanker flying the Hong Kong flag and manned by a crew of 22 was on way to Mumbai from Houston in the United States when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on September 15.
Eighteen of the 22-member crew are Indian, one Russian, one Bangladeshi and two Filipinos. The pirates on Thursday forced some of the hostages to call home and pressure the ship’s owners for ransom.
''They are asking some hostages at gun-point to speak to their families,'' said Seema on Thursday after meeting Shipping Minister T R Baalu.
''These 22 sailors are living under the shadow of guns with constant threat to their lives, and look upon the government of India as their last hope,” she said adding that the hostages will run out of fresh water and rations in “another three-four days.''
Baalu assured her that ''every effort'' would be made to secure release of the hostages. Seema has requested a meeting with UPA chief Sonia Gandhi.
Reuters, while quoting the French Foreign Ministry, reported on Friday Somalia pirates have seized a yacht with two French nationals aboard off the coast of East Africa.
''The ministry confirms that a yacht with two French on board has been the target of an act of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden,'' a spokesperson said in Paris.
Somali gunmen have seized at least 30 vessels so far this year, making the water off the Horn of Africa country the most dangerous in the world. The European Union is preparing a mechanism to help coordinate protection of vessels from pirates and is considering a beefed up operation at a later stage.
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