Roy Paul, head of the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP), said that a Reuters’ report the ship’s captain and others had died in the sinking of the vessel were wide of the mark, adding the fate of the crew had yet to be confirmed.
There were understood to be 15 crew on the ship when it sank having been held by Somalian pirates for approaching three years.
Paul said of the report which quoted an alleged pirate, “The article was full of errors and no one stopped to do simple research and even basic maths before publication. They claimed the Captain had been killed when in fact he left the vessel over a year ago when the Pakistan crew were released.
“To date there are no confirmed deaths but of course the seafarers family members are very concerned. The irresponsible reporting of the situation and the repetition by other news and media has caused unnecessary additional worries to the family members with at least one family member being hospitalised with shock.”
It appears the 15 crew were onboard when the Albedo sank and there were attempts to move the men onto another nearby pirated ship the Naham 3.
Paul says he is trying to determine how many survived and urged the pirates to release all the remaining hostages immediately.
