Whereabouts of 15 other crew members from MV Albedo still to be confirmed
According to Gulf News, at least four crew members and seven Somali pirates died when MV Albedo cargo vessel sank on Sunday, July 7.
EU Naval Force confirmed that the Malaysian flagged Motor Vessel MV Albedo, held by armed pirates at an anchorage close to the Somali Coast, sunk in rough seas.
MV Albedo has been in pirate hands since it was attacked in the Indian Ocean in November 2010, and was in pirate hands when it sank.
A pirate from Haradheere, Somalia’s main pirate base said by telephone that the ship has been gradually sinking for almost a week, but it sank totally on Sunday night.
“We have confirmed that four foreign [crew] and seven pirates died. We are missing 13 in total,” said the pirate, who gave his name as Hussain. “We had no boats to save them.” The Albedo had 23 crew from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran when it was seized.
Hussain said the captain had died earlier and four of the crew had previously been taken off the ship. With four dead, this would leave 14 to be accounted for, and it was not clear why there was a discrepancy with the pirates’ figures.
The EU Naval Force, a European Union anti-piracy unit that protects merchant shipping off the Horn of Africa, said the whereabouts of 15 crew were still unclear
