KYIV. July 14 (Interfax-AVN) - A U.S. naval ship and an Omani tugboat are hurrying to the rescue of a Gibraltar-flagged ship that is adrift in stormy weather off Somalia after Somali pirates who hijacked it on May 28 released it on July 8, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The Lehmann Timber was heading for Salalah, Oman, after the pirates freed it, but the vessel's engine stopped on Saturday, casting the ship adrift in a storm that has been raging for several days. The crew are badly short of food and drinking water.
The Lehmann Timber's captain is Russian Valentin Bartashov. Reports said there were 15 people, including four Ukrainians, aboard the ship when the pirates seized it.
The pirates released the Lehmann Timber for a ransom, which Western media put at $750,000. Initially the pirates demanded more than $1 million.