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The director of the Kenya-based Mokatu Shipping Agency, Inayet Kudrati, has conveyed to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Kenya that the Sri Lankan Captain S. Mahalingam, of the Vessel MV Semlow which was hijacked off Somalia is safe and is in good health. The Foreign Ministry has already conveyed this news to Mr. Mahalingam’s family in Jaffna. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines - registered MV Semlow which the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had hired from Motaku Shipping Company was reportedly carrying humanitarian cargo for Somalian people affected by the tsunami when it was hijacked on June 27, 2005. The crew includes a Sri Lankan captain, a Tanzanian engineer and eight Kenyan crew members. The Shipping Company is reportedly engaged in negotiations with the hijackers together with WFP officials in the region, towards securing the safe release of the crew and the vessel. The Sri Lanka High Commission has further informed that WFP is in contact with local authorities of the clan of the militia, which has the vessel under its control, towards this end. The High Commission has also made an official request through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya to assist in securing the release of the Sri Lankan along with the Kenya nationals and others in the crew.
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