Mumbai\Mogadishu:
There seems to be no end in sight to the hostage crisis involving seven Indian sailors who were held back on Friday by Somali pirates in a last-minute change of heart.
Authorities are tight-lipped about the steps being taken to rescue the sailors who were reportedly not released in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy.
According to unconfirmed reports, the pirates are pushing for a swap deal.
However, sources in the Navy told NDTV that a swap deal was not under consideration yet.
Meanwhile, the managers of the ship MV Asphalt Venture, Mumbai-based OMCI Ship Management, said that they had been unable to get in touch with the pirates.
"We haven't been able to contact them after the last agreement. We are making every possible attempt to get in touch with these people, but they haven't got back to us. We are only getting the news from the media," Sunil Puri, Media Spokesperson of the OMCI Ship Management told NDTV.
The firm had earlier said that the pirates released the ship and eight of the crew members but added they were in the dark over why the other crew members were not allowed to leave as also over their whereabouts.
"Despite concluding a dialogue with the pirates for the full release of 15 crew and vessel and payment of the ransom, the vessel has been released but the Master has reported that 6 officers and 1 rating were taken off the tanker and were made to accompany the pirates," OMCI Ship Management had said.
A pirate had told The Associated Press that the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy.
"We decided to keep the Indians because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, was quoted as saying.
The asphalt/bitumen tanker was hijacked by pirates on its way to South Africa from Kenya, southeast of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania on September 28, 2010. Eight of the captives were released on April 15 after over six months of negotiations.
Owners are at a fix over the development while there is no trace of the Indian crew still in the captivity of the pirates, Sunil Puri, India representative of MTI Networks managing crisis communication for the company had told PTI.
"...owners are unable to establish where the six officers and one rating had been taken and the reason for their continued detention. They are currently using all resources and channels available with them to understand the reasons behind this act," he said.
"Some media reports suggest that the pirates in Harardhere, off the Somalian shores, have taken the decision not to honour the agreement made but to prolong the hostage ordeal of the seven seafarers in retaliation for the arrest of Somali pirates by the Indian Navy," he added.
Meanwhile, OMCI said that it was making contact with all the families of the captives to explain the situation and had assured them that all steps were being taken for their safe release.
The company said the vessel remains some five nautical miles off the town anchorage of Harardhere with eight released crew on board.
Earlier, Shipping Minister G K Vasan had said the government was taking all steps to check such incidents and seek the safe release of the captives.
Indian warships have been escorting merchant vessels in the Indian Ocean as part of international anti-piracy efforts and the country's Navy and Coast Guard have seized around 120 pirates, mostly Somali nationals, over the past few months.Last month, the Indian navy captured 61 pirates when they attacked a naval ship.
Pirates currently hold some 30 ships and more than 600 hostages.
"All appropriate International and Indian authorities have been alerted to the situation and all steps to try to re-establish contact with the pirates to secure the release of those still being held and now reported to be on-shore (are being taken)," the company statement said.
Somali pirates' reneging on the deal for releasing the vessel with the entire crew is a cause of serious concern for the Indian security establishment, which views as a "disturbing trend" their growing activities close to the country's coast. The move may also lead to a reworking of the strategy to deal with piracy.
(With PTI inputs)