EUR: Turkish company close to deal on kidnapped vessel: report
25 Nov 2008 11:31 PM
ANKARA, Nov 25 AFP - The Turkish owner of a chemicals-laden tanker seized off Yemen in the Gulf of Aden two weeks ago is close to an agreement with the pirates on a ransom, the Anatolia news agency reports.
"We have talked to the pirates four or five times ... They have told us how much ransom they want. We have started bargaining on this amount. At this point, we are close to an agreement," Kubilay Marangoz, a lawyer for the YDC Maritime company which owns the vessel, told the agency on Tuesday.
Marangoz did not say how much money the pirates had demanded.
"Our only aim is to secure the release of the vessel and the crew safe and sound. That is why we prefer an agreement to an armed operation," he added.
The Karagol, manned by a 14-strong Turkish crew, was seized on November 12 off the coast of Yemen as it was transporting 4,500 tonnes of chemicals from Israel to Mumbai in India.
It was the second Turkish-owned vessel to be seized in the Gulf of Aden after the M/V Yasa Neslihan was captured on October 29.
Earlier this month, a representative from Yasa company, which owns the ship, said pirates had demanded a ransom in return for the release of the vessel and and its 20-man crew. He declined to reveal the sum.
Piracy is rife and well organised in the region where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal.
