One Ukrainian remains on board Beluga Nomination ship

One citizen of Ukraine remains on board the Beluga Nomination, a dry cargo ship that was seized by Somali pirates on January 22, 2011, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Dykusarov has said.

He noted that on February 8 a press conference was held by the leadership of Germany's Beluga Shipping GmbH, the owner of the ship seized by pirates, in order to comment on the situation around the ship and its crew.

"During the press conference, representatives of the owner company confirmed that the pirates attacked the ship on January 22 this year," Dykusarov said.

According to the report, the ship's crew hid for 49 hours in a so-called "citadel," a compartment protected by an armored door in the ship's engine room.

On January 24, under the threat of being flooded out by the pirates, the ship's crew decided to surrender, and then the cargo ship was fully seized by the pirates.

According to the representatives of the ship's owner, on January 25-26, coast guard officers from the Seychelles opened fire on the pirates, killing one of them.

"In response, on January 26 this year, the pirates shot dead the boatswain of the vessel - a citizen of the Philippines. Several crewmembers were ordered to throw the body overboard, and they used the situation to escape," Dykusarov said.

According to the Ukrainian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, a Ukrainian citizen who managed to escape from the hijacked ship, returned to Ukraine on February 4.

"The fate of two other sailors [a Russian and a Filipino], who also attempted to escape, is currently unknown. The company's representatives believe that it is likely that they died," Dykusarov said.

According to the company, the pirates are currently holding hostage seven sailors, one of them a Ukrainian citizen. The vessel remains at anchor in the Somali port of Harardhere.