Above: The MV Sirius Star is observed at anchor by the
U.S. Navy on January 9, 2009 following an apparent payment
via a parachuted container to pirates holding the Sirius Star
near Somalia. (UPI Photo/David B. Hudson/US Navy).

UPI
Jan. 13

MOMBASA, Kenya — One of the Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil supertanker says fears of being robbed by other pirates led to the drowning deaths of five of his crew.

Pirate Libaan Jaama, one of the hijackers who had held the Sirius Star and its cargo of 2 million barrels of crude oil hostage since Nov. 15, told CNN Tuesday that after a $3.5 million ransom was paid and the pirates were aboard an escape boat in the Gulf of Aden, they encountered rival pirates who began shooting into the air. Read More.
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Related: Somali pirate’s body washes ashore with $153,000
The Associated Press

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN –

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.

Five pirates drowned Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.

“One of them was discovered and they are still looking for the other ones. He had $153,000 in a plastic bag in his pocket,” he said Sunday.

The U.S. navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package onto the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery.

But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom. Read More.