Shipping firm negotiating with Somali pirates for crew release

The shipping company, whose vessel with two Indians onboard was hijacked last week by Somali pirates, has said it was negotiating with the hijackers for the safe release of the crew.
 
Indian high commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan said Pacific International, the shipping company, told him that it was negotiating with the hijackers.
 
"The High Commission is in touch with the company. The company has also said that its officials would visit families of all the crew onboard and meet them," Raghavan said over phone from Singapore.
 
He said the company also assured that it will do whatever it takes to ensure that the crew is safe and released.
 
The ship MV Kota Wajar was hijacked by Somali pirates on October 15 in the Indian Ocean about 500km north of the Seychelles island. No reports were immediately available and calls to the International Maritime Bureau's International Piracy Centre here went unanswered since Saturday.

Coalition forces, which are patrolling waters nearby, have sent an aircraft looking for the ship. Shipping sources in Singapore said normally negotiations with the Somali pirates after a hijack could take up to two months before the vessel and crew were released.
 
"It all depends on the demand made and the pace of negotiations," an official with a Singapore-based shipping line said.