On 15 April, pirates accepted a multi-million-dollar ransom to release 3,884dwt bitumen tanker Asphalt Venture - but although they freed the ship, they double-crossed the owner by keeping seven of the 15 Indian crew members hostage, the ship's manager, OMCI Shipmanagement, said in a statement. One pirate told the AP news agency that the decision was in retaliation for the Indian Navy's arrest of more than 100 pirates. "We decided to keep the Indians because India is holding our colleagues," he said. Six officers and one rating were brought ashore in Somalia. The partial release came almost seven months after the vessel was hijacked off Tanzania.
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