Dhow continues escape run to Sharjah

ABU DHABI // The crew of a Dubai-registered dhow that escaped Somali pirates is expected to arrive in Sharjah by the end of the week. The 11-man crew of the MSV Al Kaderi contacted the boat's owner, Ghani Khanani, about 3am yesterday to say the vessel had just passed Muscat. "The captain rang me early [yesterday] morning," he said. "They are still running on one engine. We are expecting them in the next two to three days but they are only travelling at about two or three knots."

"They are heading to Sharjah," he said, adding that would be the boat's first stop. The 500-tonne green-and-white vessel was attacked by three skiffs as it sailed close to the notorious pirate port of Hobyo, Somalia, on March 28. It was met by the Omani coastguard on Monday, who provided the crew with food and water. In an unrelated incident, Somali raiders seized a 300,000-tonne South Korean supertanker, the Samho Dream, on Sunday and were steaming for Hobyo, a pirate chief told the AFP news agency.

* The National