Somali pirates have reportedly increased their ransom demand for the release of the hijacked oil tanker M/T Eureka, which carries eight Egyptian sailors, from $3 million to $10 million. According to relatives of crew members, conditions aboard the vessel have deteriorated sharply. The wife of engineer Mohamed Radi said her husband informed her during a phone call that pirates had increased the number of armed guards on the ship while severely restricting food and water supplies. The M/T Eureka, flying the Togo flag and carrying around 2,800 tonnes of diesel, was hijacked on 2 May off the coast of Yemen’s Shabwa Governorate by armed Somali pirates. The vessel was subsequently taken into Somali territorial waters near the Puntland region. The [...]
