MV Albedo: Seven Pakistani hostages freed

Karachi: After the intense struggle by Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Human Rights activist Ansar Burney and Real Estate Tycoon Malik Riaz, it has been revealed that seven Pakistani crew members of MV Albedo have been freed by Somali pirates, here on Wednesday.

The 23 crew members aboard MV Albedo, was hijacked by Somali pirates in November 2010.

According to the sources, the seven crew members have been shifted to a safe place and the members would arrive in Karachi at 7 pm.

The Somali pirates had initially demanded $8 million to release the captives, but after several rounds of negotiations the amount was brought down to $2.85 million. The deadline set by the pirates was May 15, 2012.

The Chairman of Bahria Town Malik Riaz contributed Rs 130 million for giving ransom to Somali pirates for release of MV Albedo’s crew.

Of all 22 hostages, seven each are from Pakistan and Bangladesh, six from Sri Lanka, and one each from India and Iran.

One Indian sailor has already died since the vessel was captured in November 2010.