MV Faina

MV Faina (Ukrainian: Фаїна) was a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship operated by a Ukrainian company that sailed under a Belize flag of convenience, owned by Panama City-based Waterlux AG, and managed by Tomex Team of Odesa, Ukraine. On 25 September 2008, the ship was captured by Somali pirates allegedly under the orders of piracy kingpin Mohamed Abdi Hassan, in the twenty-sixth such attack in 2008. The Faina's crew (at the time of capture) consisted of 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian. On 28 September, Viktor Nikolsky, first mate on the Faina, said that Vladimir Kolobkov, the ship's Russian captain, had died from a hypertension-related stroke. On 5 February 2009 it was announced that a ransom of US $3.2 million had been paid to the pirates, and the ship was released the next day.