Hijacked Blue Star released

7706770 Basseterre, St.Kitts-Nevis (SKN-flag) and carrying 6,000 tons of fertilizer has been released

USD 75K ransom offered for Blue Star by owner

Egyptian government has denied reports that it had negotiated with the Somali pirates who kidnapped the BLUE STAR Basseterre, St.Kitts-Nevis (SKN-flag).
An Egyptian man being held hostage on a pirated ship off the coast of Somalia for nearly two weeks has accused the pirates of mistreating their captives and appealed for help. Ibrahim Etman, one of 28 Egyptian crew aboard the cargo ship Blue Star when it was seized by pirates on January 1, had phoned his daughter to ask for help.
Mona Ibrahim Etman told the daily the pirates began mistreating the hostages when the ship's owners refused to pay a 75,000-dollar ransom, ceased negotiating, and stopped answering the pirates' phone calls.

A spokesman for New Marine, the Alexandria-based company that owns the ship, however denied the report. New Marine Shipping, 68 Horreya Avenue Alexandria 11471 Egypt

Blue Star: K&R specialist wanted?

Abdel Rahman Selim al-Awwa, reputedly the owner of the "Blue Star" ship, registered as BLUE STAR 7706770 Basseterre, St.Kitts-Nevis (SKN-flag) by Novstar Shipping and Marine Services Dubai as from Egypt, denied reports by the media that the ship and its crew of 28 Egyptians would be released within hours.
"These reports are groundless. So far, we haven't agreed with the Somali pirates on how to give them the ransom.
"The pirates demanded that the ransom be dropped by a helicopter into the water and said that once they took the ransom, they would release the ship.

"We rejected this idea and told the pirates that we would not give them the ransom this way. We asked to give them the ransom in a neutral zone through our respective representatives when the ship would start moving," al-Awwa said.
Al-Awwa said he would not give the pirates the ransom while they are still controlling the ship. What is the guarantee that they will release the ship and its crew after that," he wondered?
French sources mentioned $US1 million ransom, and elsewhere $3 million got play.

pirates take Blue Star, St. Kitts and Nevis-flag

MV BLUE STAR is flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The 28 crew were all Egyptian. It was heading east from Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but then it went towards the Somalian Coast. About 15 pirates, some of them heavily-armed, It was currently en route to an unknown destination on the coast of Somalia.

7706770 BLUE STAR
call sign V4DT
General Cargo Ship
7923 1977
Saint Kitts-Nevis