Somali pirates release oil tanker hostages
Hijackers given their freedom after dropping ransom demand

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Somali pirates who hijacked an oil tanker and took its eight crew members hostage have released the vessel and crew in return for their freedom.
The announcement came hours after the hijackers and naval forces exchanged gunfire over a boat believed to be carrying supplies to the pirates, the BBC reports.
"There has been discussion going on after the gunfight of this afternoon," Abdirahman Mohamud Hassan, director general of the Puntland maritime police force, said. "We pulled our forces back and so the pirates went away."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
One of the hijackers, identified only as Abdullahi, told Reuters the ransom demand was dropped during negotiations with security officials.
The Daily Telegraph reports the pirates "were not arrested but instead were given passage to leave once they disembarked".
The eight Sri Lankan crew were released unharmed.
Monday's hijacking "followed an outpouring of anger by locals over foreign fishermen flooding into their waters," says The Guardian. Somalis are "also angry with their government for licensing some of the ships".
The tanker was en route from Djibouti to Mogadishu when it was seized just off the coast of Somalia.
It is the first such incident in five years in a region once overrun with pirates. In previous cases, crews remained in captivity for years before a ransom was paid.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Drug could allow you to 'grow new teeth'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Woman reunited with egg she signed in 1951
It Wasn't All Bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 16, 2023
Daily Briefing Ripple effects seen throughout auto industry as UAW strikes, Lee expected to bring flooding and storm winds to New England, and more
By Justin Klawans Published
-
American rescued after 12 days in Turkish cave
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published
-
What Mexico’s first female president might mean for the ‘femicide nation’
feature The Latin American country is grappling with misogynist crime amid a backdrop of progress for women in politics
By Rebekah Evans Published
-
Ukrainian military has ‘shown how the Russian army can be beaten’
Talking Point Recent Ukrainian frontline advances may offer hope for its counter-offensive
By The Week Staff Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Protests in Syria: could they bring down the Assad regime?
Talking Point Threat to power grows amid poverty, inflation and ‘botched’ response to earthquake
By The Week Staff Published