No Talks Yet with Somali Pirates for Release of Bulgarian Ship

The Bulgarian-flagged vessel MV Panega is kept at the port of Garacad in Somalia. Photo by Photo by EU Navfor

There are no forthcoming negotiations between Bulgaria and the Somali pirates who hijacked the Bulgarian chemical tanker MV Panega, according to a report of NGO Ecoterra International.

The Bulgarian vessel Panega was hijacked on May 11, 2010, in the Gulf of Aden in the proximity of the internationally protected shipping corridor and approximately 100 nautical miles east of Aden (Yemen).

The chemical products tanker of 5 848 tonnes was en route from the Red Sea to India. It has a crew of 15 Bulgarians.

According to Ecoterra, an international NGO monitoring the activities of the Somali pirates, the vessel is now held at the north-eastern Somali coast in the vicinity of Garacad.

Major General Buster Howes, head of Europe’s Operation Atalanta, stated that there is no information about the crew of MT PANEGA.

Local informers are cited as reporting that the crew is all right, even though food and clean water are low. It is unclear when talks for the release of the Bulgarian sailors and the ship might start.

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