The Danish cargo ship Danica White and its five crew members, hijacked by pirates off Somalia at the beginning of June, have been released. According to the Danish embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, the ship and its crew were freed at 1725 hours local time yesterday and the Danica White is now being escorted by French naval vessel Blaison, with a Danish naval officer on board for some time. The convoy is understood to be on its way to Djibouti. The Danica White crewmen are said to be in fairly good condition given their 83 days in captivity. “The hijacking has been extremely difficult for the crew. Relatives in Denmark have also been under considerable strain due to the hijacking,” the Danish embassy in Nairobi said in the statement. The embassy did not give details of the circumstances of the ship’s release, but reports reaching world-wide ship owners’ association Bimco say that a $1.5M ransom was paid. The 1,616dwt Danica White is owned by H Folmer & Co in Copenhagen, but the Folmer fleet has been managed by a company named Erria since May, when Folmer’s ISM certification was withdrawn. The Danica White was attacked on or about 1 June while transporting a cargo of building materials and navigating more than 200 miles off the Eastern Somali coast The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out in the announcement that international co-operation is needed to confront the piracy threat. A working group has therefore been established to determine the opportunities for strengthening such efforts. The working group includes representatives of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Maritime Administration, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence. The IMO is pushing for a UN approach to Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government asking that foreign warships be permitted to pursue pirates into Somali territorial waters.
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