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Somali pirates demand $25m ransom for supertanker

by Dave Keating | November 20, 2008 at 04:22 am

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Somali pirates have demanded a $25 million ransome for the Saudi oil tanker which they hijacked earlier this week.Yesterday Saudi Arabia's foreign minister confirmed that the ship's owners are in talks with the pirates, but he didn't reveal what those negotiations involved. Today Arab states with a red sea coastline are holding an emergency meeting about the escalating pirate problem.

Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi-owned super-tanker Sirius Star today demanded $25 million in ransom and set a 10-day deadline.

“We are demanding $25 million from the Saudi owners of the tanker,” said Mohamed Said, one of the pirates, in a phone interview from the ship anchored off the Somali coast.

“We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter. The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous.”

The Sirius Star with its full cargo of two million barrels of oil has set new records as the most audacious hijack the pirates have yet managed, the largest ship yet taken and the attack furthest away from Somalia.