Eight Egyptians held for ransom on UAE-registered oil tanker off Somali coast

The family of an Egyptian engineer who is stuck aboard an oil tanker that was hijacked earlier this month has appealed last week to the Foreign Ministry to intervene, according to two family members who spoke to Mada Masr. 

Eight Egyptian and four Indian nationals are being held on board, after the Emirati-owned vessel they were crewing for, M/T Eureka, left the United Arab Emirates’ Port of Fujairah and was seized by an armed crew of Somali nationals at the beginning of May after entering Yemeni maritime territory, according to the family members. The vessel and its crew are now located off the Somali coastline.

Mohamed Rady is a mechanical engineer employed by UAE-based Royal Shipping Lines, his wife, Amira Ahmed, told Mada Masr.

She said that her husband called her on May 2, informing her that the vessel had been seized and that the hijackers were demanding a large ransom in exchange for the crew’s release.

Ahmed told Mada Masr her husband managed to contact her again on May 10. 

During that call, the engineer told her that a “large number” of armed captors had boarded the vessel to hold it and the crew for ransom at sea. 

He had told her that “the company was refusing everything” during the ransom negotiations and that “the situation is difficult.” 

Rady’s brother told Mada Masr that the captors were allowing the hostages to contact their families once “every four or five days” for no more than five minutes at a time. “We heard [the ransom] is US$3.5 million,” he added. 

The Foreign Ministry said in a May 11 statement that it was following the case “closely,” saying the vessel was located, at the time, near the coast of Puntland. 

The statement said that the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu had been instructed to contact “the highest levels of the Somali authorities to monitor the welfare of the eight Egyptians, ensure their safety and security, and work toward their swift release.”

Rady’s family said the engineer had initially asked his relatives not to disclose the incident, out of concern for the crew’s safety, but later urged them to speak publicly, after negotiations had broken down over the ransom demanded.

The UAE also condemned the hijacking of the tanker in a statement last week, expressing “solidarity” with Egypt and the families of the sailors. 

Expressing its “support for efforts aimed at ensuring their safety and securing their release,” it also called for “international efforts to combat piracy and organized crime in vital maritime routes” and “enhanced regional and international cooperation to protect commercial vessels.”

Fujairah is currently the only consistent outlet for oil and other cargo shipping from the UAE.

Maritime traffic leaving or entering the Persian Gulf remains otherwise limited as Iran retains control of the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington to end the war that began earlier this year.

The post Eight Egyptians held for ransom on UAE-registered oil tanker off Somali coast first appeared on Mada Masr.

المصدر: Mada Masr