Russian foreign ministry declines to comment on US Navy firing at seized vessel with Russians onboard
The United States Navy fired at Somalia pirates, who seized Svitser Korsakov vessel with Russian sailors and a British captain onboard. “A US warship fired at one of the boats. We don't know if there are any casualties,” said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers Assistance Program, Reuters informs.
The US Navy refused to answer if they fired or not. Denise Garcia, a spokeswoman for the US Navy, said that the USA “has ships in the area monitoring the captured vessel, the Svitzer Korsakov.” “We have a full range of options available to deal with piracy and we will utilize them as the situation dictates,” Garcia said.
A REGNUM correspondent was told at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information and Press Department that they do not have any reports on theincident.
It is worth mentioning, on February 1, pirates hijacked Svitser Korsakov tugboat near Somalia coast. The boat was going by the route St Petersburg – Singapore — Sakhalin. There were two UK citizens (the captain of the ship and the engineer) and four Russians onboard. Russia informed NATO navy that the Russian vessel was hijacked.
After a few days it became known that the hijacked ship was near the village of Eyl. The pirates informed the local administration they were ready to let the ship and the crew go as soon as they got a ransom worth “thousands of US dollars.”
15:59 02/12/2008
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