MUSCAT: It was a happy ending to the two-month ordeal suffered by the crew of MV Stolt Valor, the Japanese-owned ship seized by Somali pirates on Sept. 15.
The sea saga ended when the vessel anchored in Muscat at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday. The ship is likely to berth soon at Port Sultan Qaboos. The almost 25,000-ton chemical tanker, bound for Mumbai, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. It was released by the pirates and subsequently sailed from the port of Eyl on Nov. 16, the Times of Oman reported yesterday.
The daily quoted the captain of the ship, Prabhat Kumar Goyal as saying: “How much we were delighted to see the Muscat shoreline cannot be expressed in words. For me the most important thing is that everybody is safe now. The crew, the vessel and the cargo are now out of harm’s way.”
Goyal and his crew of 17 Indians, two Filipinos, one Bangladeshi and one Russian are likely to fly to their respective countries in a day or two.
Capt. Anshul Rajvanshi, deputy general manager of the Ebony Ship Management Company (the ship’s crew management company) in Mumbai said: “We are relieved to know that all the crew members are in good health. I have spoken to each one of them and I am glad to say that they are all fine.”
C. M. Najeeb, general manager of Towell Barwill, the ship’s handling agents in Oman, said, “Once the formalities are completed, the crew members will be flown back home.”
source:Arif Ali Arab News
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