Somali pirates have killed a Syrian crewman on the hijacked Orna in a protest over a delayed ransom payment.
The gunmen also wounded another seafarer on the 27,900-dwt Orna (built 1984), a UAE-owned bulker seized off the Seychelles in 2010 with 19 crew.
Hassan Abdi, a pirate commander in Haradhere town, a key pirate center, told AFP that the killing on Wednesday was a message to shipowner Kassab Intershipping.
“The killing was a message to the owners of the ship who paid no heed to our ransom demands.
“More killings will follow if they continue to lie to us — we have lost patience with them. Two years is enough,” he said.
Last summer, pirates and hostages were forced to abandon Orna after a fire broke out.
It is thought the initial blaze broke out in the ship’s galley.
