Hope floats as authorities sail out to hijacked ships

New Delhi: There is some hope for 18 Indian sailors aboard the cargo vessel Stolt Valor held by pirates off the Somali coast.

For the first time, local authorities in northern Somalia freed a Panama flagged ship and its crew of 11 people. The action was carried out by the authorities of Puntland, a semi-autonomous government.

It holds out the hope of some regional effort to free other hijacked vessels including the Ukrainian ship Faina held off Hobyo and the Stolt Valor with its Indian sailors.

The Puntland action saw high drama. Troops sent to seize the vessel had to chase the pirates into international waters and a gunbattle followed.

The Operation Commander, Abdirahshid Abdirahin Ismail says, "When we reached the hijacked vessel the pirates fired at us and hit our ship. One of our soldiers died, but we chased them into international waters and warned them to surrender."

The pirates gave themselves up after running out of ammunition and the crew were reported safe.

It revived hopes of local authorities taking more such intiatives to stop piracy. The Puntland authorities say they are willing to do what they can to stop pirates.

At this point, at least 25 vessels lie hijacked off anarchic Somalia including the Stolt Valor and the Faina.