An Indonesian tug owner is ready to pay a ransom to free 10 crew being held by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines.
United Tractors has agreed to hand over PHP 50m ($1.08m), according to coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Luhut Pandjaitan.
"The next communications between the company and the hostage-taker may be on Wednesday or Thursday," Luhut said, according to the Straits Times.
The 2015-built Brahma 12 was attacked on 28 March and the captors demanded $1m for the seafarers’ release.
Sarah Lubis, corporate secretary of United Tractors, was cited as saying: "We are ready to do what is best for our crew members."
Another attack reported
In a separate incident on Friday, pirates believed to be linked to Abu Sayyaf took four Indonesian crew hostage from a tug named as TB Henry.
It was en route to Tarakan, north Kalimantan, after unloading 8,000 tonnes of coal in Cebu.
Another crewman was shot in the chest by one of the attackers after trying to resist capture.
He and five others were rescued by Malaysian maritime police.
"Communications with the group taking hostage of the 10 Indonesians is smoother than with the other group holding four Indonesians," Luhut added.
