Pirates to free Egyptian ship for million dollars

CAIRO, (AFP)

Somali pirates have agreed to release an Egyptian cargo ship seized last month and free its 28-member crew in exchange for one million dollars, the boat's owner said on Friday.

"We have reached an agreement (with the pirates) for a million dollar ransom," Abderrahman el-Awwa told AFP.

"We are waiting for them to choose a secure place in order for us to hand over the sum," he added.

Awwa expected the ship to be released "soon but not before four days." Somali pirates hijacked the Blue Star cargo ship with a crew of 28 Egyptians near Bab al-Mandabm off the Somali coast, on January 1, as it was headed east.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said at the time that about 15 pirates, some of them heavily-armed, attacked the Blue Star which carried 6,000 tonnes of fertiliser.

The Egyptian-owned Blue Star was flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis when it was hijacked.

More than 100 attacks occurred in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of the lawless Horn of Africa country in 2008 alone.

Pirates had captured another Egyptian ship with a crew of 25 in September, holding them for almost a month before setting them free. Egypt said it did not pay a ransom for the crew and ship.

The pirates have been undeterred by the presence of foreign navies patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in a bid to secure one of the world's busiest shipping routes.