Somali pirates were evacuating a Ukrainian ship laden with weapons, ending a four-month hostage drama, a maritime group said Thursday, according to dpa. The MV Faina was seized off the coast of Somalia in September and is carrying a cargo of 33 T-72 tanks, armored personnel carriers, munitions, and small arms. "We know now they are leaving the ship in small groups," Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The last pirate had left the ship by midday without harming a 21-man crew on board, officials in the administration of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a cautionary statement said some pirates might still remain on board, saying in part "there can be no discussion of an end to the hostage crisis, before the last pirate has left the ship." The "crew is fine and all the pirates appear to be gone," Ukraine's Channel 5 television reported. "But it is not clear when the ship can start moving again." A total 21 sailors were known to be aboard the Faina, 17 of them Ukrainian nationals. One sailor, the ship's Russian captain, died of a blood circulation problem shortly after the pirates attacked the cargo vessel. A ransom of around 3.5 million dollars is believed to have been paid to release the ship after months of complicated negotiations and several false dawns. Early pirate ransom demands reached 30 million dollars. US warships surrounded the ship at her mooring off Somalia amid concern the weapons could be used by Islamists waging a bloody insurgency on land. Piracy off the coast of Somalia peaked late last year. A total of over 40 ships were seized last year, bringing in ransoms estimated at 30 million dollars. The presence of international warships reduced the number of hijackings from last year, but the area remains a dangerous place. A total of 15 attacks have taken place since January 1, the latest involving the successful hijacking of German-owned LPG tanker, the MV Longchamp. Once the MV Faina is freed, around 10 ships and 200 crew will remain in pirate hands.
