"This concerns the safety of Indonesian crew of the ship which is still being held hostage by the pirates. Though the ship is of Indonesia, we cannot disclose the amount of the ransom we paid to the pirates," Vice President Director of PT Samudera Indonesia, David Batubara, said here on Sunday evening.
He said that there was still other ship flying other country`s flag which were still hijacked by Somali pirates and there were several Indonesian nationals on the ship.
"Any information will be very sensitive," David said. He was neither available to explain the source of the money and mechanism of the payment to the pirates.
He only stated that the amount of the ransom paid to them did not reach US$4.5 million.
"The ransom as reported is not accurate and the amount paid was far higher than the one agreed to with the pirates through telecommunications," David said.
According to David, the important thing that matters for PT Samudera Indonesia and the government were the safety and health of the ship crew members.
As reported earlier, MV Sinar Kudus` crew had been released by the Somali pirates on Sunday.
"We on behalf of PT Samudera Indonesia hereby state that the 20 Indonesian crew members of MV Sinar Kurdus have been released by the Somali pirates," he said here on Sunday.
He said that Sinar Kudus had left the Somali waters at 1.10 pm local time or 5.10 Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Sunday.
"The 20 Indonesian crew members are reported to be in good health and safety. The crew members have fully taken control of the ship," David said.
The 20 MV Sinar Kudus crew members had been released after being held hostage for 46 days. The release was made after negotiations.
MV Sinar Kudus was hijacked by Somali pirates on March 16, 2011, about 512 kilometers north of East Socotra in the Somali waters with a crew of 31, including 20 Indonesians.
The ship which has a dead weight of 8,911 tons was hijacked when sailing to deliver ferro nickel to Rotterdam.(*)
(A014/H-NG/a014)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
