5 Somali Pirates Drown With Ransom Share

Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker yesterday drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, the AP reports. The boat, with eight people on board, overturned in a storm; three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Dozens of pirates left the supertanker Sirius Star after a small aircraft dropped bundles of cash by parachute to end a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden.

On the same day the Saudi ship was freed, pirates released a captured Iranian-chartered cargo ship, Iran's state television reported today. It said the ship Daylight was carrying 36 tons of wheat when it was attacked in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 18 and seized by pirates. All 25 crew are in good health and the vessel is sailing toward Iran, the TV report said.