Nairobi: Somali pirates on Friday abandoned a vessel they seized early this month without ransom or violence after it ran out of food, fuel and drinking water, an environmental organisation said.
The nine sea bandits quit the ML Arzoo, a Comoros-flagged vessel with 14 Indian crew members in the morning as it was floating about 70 nautical miles off Victoria, the capital of the Indian Ocean island of the Seychelles.
"Previous contact with the captain on March 18 stated the vessel was commandeered by Somali pirates and was floating without fuel, food or freshwater somewhere 250 kilometres (150 miles) off the coast of the Seychelles," a statement issued by the organisation Ecoterra said.
The pirates had seized the vessel, sailing for Mogadishu with a cargo of cars, food and general goods, after it developed technical problems near the Somali coast.
They had threatened to set on fire and kill the crew if it ran out of fuel.
The statement said "they realised that they had nowhere to go and called in support from Somalia," before leaving the vessel without any violence.
An Indian-flagged dhow carrying charcoal, which was seized in the Kismayo channel near Somalia on Friday by a related group, was commandeered towards the stranded vessel off Victoria to allow the pirates to escape, Ecoterra said.
PTI
