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Somali pirate says colleagues quit Ukrainian ship

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-05 16:29

NAIROBI, Kenya – A Somali pirate says some pirates have left a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks they have held for five months.

In this September 29, 2008, file photograph originally provided by the US Navy, the pirated merchant ship MV Faina is seen from a US Navy guided-missile cruiser in the Indian Ocean. A ransom has been delivered to Somali pirates who seized the Ukrainian ship which was carrying tanks, heavy weapons and about 20 crew members, a spokesman for the ship's owners said Wednesday, February 4, 2009. [Agencies]

The move comes a day after the pirates reportedly received a ransom.

Aden Abdi Omer says 14 gunmen disembarked from the MV Faina with their commander Thursday. He says the group has sent two boats to collect more than two dozen other pirates still on board.

Mikhail Voitenko, a spokesman for the ship's owners, has said the pirates received their ransom Wednesday. Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency put it at $3.2 million. The pirates originally demanded $20 million.

The MV Faina was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons when it was seized in September.

Pirates attack some 100 ships off Somalia last year.