Somali pirates 'demand $20 mln' for Turkish ship

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4xRpuR6OXowmcJfzjZSgDQk3oZw

ANKARA ? Somali pirates holding a Turkish bulk carrier for nearly two months have demanded 20 million dollars (14 million euros) for the release of the vessel and its 23-man Turkish crew, a company lawyer said Monday.

"The ransom they asked for is 20 million dollars, but negotiations on kidnappings such as these usually end with agreement on 10 to 20 percent of the amount asked," Nilgun Yamaner, who represents the owner of the ship, told AFP.

"In our case, that amounts to a figure between two to four million dollars," she added.

Yamaner said she believed they were close to a deal with the pirates, but refused to say the figure her client, the Istanbul-based Horizon Shipping, was negotiating for the ship.

The bulk carrier Horizon 1 was seized on July 8 as it was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan with 33,000 cubic metres of sulphide.

Pirates directed the ship to the port of Eyl in northern Somalia's breakaway Puntland region, where it has been anchored since.

The crew were in good condition and had regular telephone contact with their families, Yamaner said.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

More than 130 merchant ships were attacked last year, a rise of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.