Somali pirates hijack Greek ship
18/9/2008 18:01
A Greek ship with 25 crew members has been seized by armed pirates off the
coast of Somalia in the latest attacks on the world's most dangerous waters, a
regional maritime official said today.
Andrew Mwangura, the coordinator of
the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the vessel was sailing
to Kenya when it was hijacked off the eastern coast of Somalia, the 13th such
seizure by the pirates in the past two months.
"We have been receiving
reports about the Greek vessel since yesterday (Wednesday) but I have not
confirmed the name of the vessel and the nationalities of the crew members,"
Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.
Using increasingly sophisticated
equipment, pirates have stepped up attacks on merchant vessels in the gulf,
increasing insurance costs for ship owners and raising the possibility of
military intervention.
The International Maritime Bureau have reported more
than 50 attacks or attempted attacks in or near the Gulf this year, up from 13
for all of last year.
The IMB's Piracy Reporting Center described three large
"mother ships"- two Russian-made stern trawlers and a tugboat- that officials
suspect are coordinating at least some of the recent attacks.
A spate of
hijackings by pirates off the coast of Somalia has triggered the deployment of a
multi-coalition naval force to patrol the world's most dangerous waters.
The
US Navy said Western coalition warships and aircraft said it will conduct
patrols to boost security in the Gulf of Aden.
The Horn of Africa nation's
3,300-kilometer coastline is considered one of the world's most dangerous
stretches of water because of piracy.
Somalia is at the entrance to the Gulf
of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the 166-kilometer Suez Canal, one of the
world's most important shipping channels.
The country has been plagued by
factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central
administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad
Barre.
Xinhua
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