Briefs

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Blue Star free

ON SUNDAY, Somali pirates released an Egyptian- owned cargo ship called Blue Star flying under the flag of the Caribbean island-nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The ship was in the Gulf of Aden as it passed through the Bab Al-Mandab Strait that separates Yemen from the Horn of Africa. "The ship was carrying 6,000 tonnes of urea fertilisers and we negotiated diligently the terms of the release of the Egyptian crew," Blue Star owner Abdel-Rahman El-Awwa told Al-Ahram Weekly.

"All the Egyptians were released unharmed and in good health. They were ecstatic and excited about prospects of reunion with their relatives," El-Awwa added.

The Somali pirates, furnished with sophisticated communications equipment, kidnapped the Blue Star with a crew of 28 Egyptians in the Gulf of Aden on 1 January. "A sum was paid as ransom, but at this particular moment I cannot disclose the exact amount. I don't want to jeopardise the deal or the lives of the released Egyptians," El-Awwa conceded.

Three-way negotiations between the owners of the merchant vessel, representatives of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Somali pirates resulted in the release of the Egyptian crew. "What is now needed is that we make sure that the conditions that led to the hijacking of the Blue Star are never repeated again," El-Awwa concluded.

Power cut innocent

A HOSPITAL power failure did not lead to the deaths of four newborns and one adult.

At a press conference on 23 February, Minister of Health and Population Hatem El-Gabali said the deaths at Al-Matariya General Hospital located in Al-Matariya in Cairo in June last year were not related to the electrical blackout.

The general prosecution had started investigating the reasons for the power cut and the death of the four neonatal infants and the adult immediately after it occurred in June 2008. Its findings almost eight months later were that there was no direct or indirect relationship between the power cut and the infants' death, thereby lifting any suspicion of negligence or slackness on behalf of the hospital's doctors and officials.

According to El-Gabali, the incubators and ventilators in which the babies were kept to keep them alive did not shut down during the power outage, adding they were all equipped with built-in batteries that can last for up to two hours.

Two of the newborns died two hours before the power cut, while the others died on the day following the cut. "All the newborns were given the required medicine and care from the moment they were born until their death," El-Gabali said during the press conference.