 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Brussels (AFP) March 29, 2010 Pirates boarded and hijacked a merchant vessel and its mixed-race crew of 24 in the Gulf of Aden before sailing it towards the Somali coast, NATO announced Monday. NATO's counter piracy operation, Ocean Shield, said in a statement that the ship had been just 10 nautical miles from the Yemeni coast when "pirates boarded and hijacked" the roll-on, roll-off vessel. "They took hostage 24 crew and are now sailing the vessel towards the Somali coast," it added, after receiving a report from the ship's owners. A spokesman for the European Union's Navfor naval force, operating in the area, said the hijacked crew members were from Ghana, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sudan and Yemen. The 4,500-tonne Panamanian-flagged Iceberg 1, owned by Iceberg International Ltd, was carrying "general mechanical equipment" and heading for the United Arab Emirates when it was attacked, Navfor said. Somali pirates have become a chronic hazard for shipping in the region. They hijack vessels exclusively for ransom payments, which are regularly made. Navfor's Operation Atalanta's patrols the pirate-infested waters off Somalia, protecting vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Both the pirate attacks and the international naval protection efforts have increased since the end of the northern hemisphere's winter.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links 21st Century Pirates
Somalia pirates start to feel the heatMogadishu, Somalia (UPI) Mar 25, 2009 The EU naval task force fighting pirates in the Gulf of Aden has come out shooting in a new offensive against the seaborne marauders off the coast of Somalia. European warships have attacked 12 groups of pirate vessels this month, more than all of last year, in a new show of force that has forced the pirates to move eastward deeper into the Indian Ocean for their prey. Amid this ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook