Pirates free vessel with 13 Lankans

9 December 2010 09:47 am

Somali pirates have freed a Saudi-owned tanker Al Nisr al Saudi with its crew including 13 Sri Lankans, after receiving an unknown sum for ransom for the ship seized in March, a maritime official said on Wednesday.

The 5,136-deadweightonne tanker had been on its way from Japan to Jeddah with one Greek and 13 Sri Lankan crew members.

"The ship was freed on Tuesday after ransom was paid. The crew is safe, but it needs supplies," Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme told Reuters.