Somali Pirates: Captive Ship Burns. Pirates "Rescue" Hostages

MV Orna

Reported as "Somali Pirates Rescue Crew as Ship Burns", which really doesn't tell the tale, because both the ship and the crew were being held captive by the pirates. At any rate, the facts:

Somali pirates say they have evacuated 19 crew members from a hijacked ship that caught fire Wednesday.

The Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Orna caught fire in the pirate stronghold of Harardhere, on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.

VOA's Somali service talked to a regional piracy expert, Andrew Mwangura, who says the ship was still on fire Thursday afternoon local time.

A pirate said he and his colleagues were trying to put out the fire. No cause had been determined.

The ship's crew remains held by the pirates.

This will raise some interesting questions about whether the ship owner's insurance (if there is insurance) covers the ship alone or the crew as far as any ransom goes, whether the ship owner has coverage for a burning ship not within his custody and control and what the pirates will do with the hulk of a burned out cargo ship (if it comes to that)?

Original report of MV Orna's capture here.