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Somali pirates free vessel, hijack another

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-17 11:47

SEOUL, South Korea -- Gunmen hijacked another freighter with 23 crew off the coast of Somalia, South Korea said Sunday, as Somali pirates freed one vessel after securing a ransom and a Russian frigate repelled an attack on a Saudi ship.

Pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian cargo ship off Somalia's coast in September. Somali pirates have released a Japanese chemical tanker and its crew, but seized another one in the Gulf of Aden, despite the presence of several warships patrolling the area, officials have said. [Agencies]

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have surged in the past week, with at least five successful hijackings since November 7, according to news reports and figures from the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

Somali pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

Along with the Russian frigate and Indian vessels, a NATO flotilla of seven ships is in the Gulf of Aden to help the US 5th Fleet in anti-piracy patrols and to escort cargo vessels. The 5th Fleet said it has repelled about two dozen pirate attacks since August 22 in the gulf, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year.

In the latest hijacking, a 20,000-ton ship carrying unidentified chemicals was seized Saturday night, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The crew of the Japanese-owned Chemstar Venus consisted of five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos, the statement said. South Korean officials said they had no information on the condition of the crew or whether the gunmen were seeking a ransom.

The Foreign Ministry said it will cooperate with Japan's government and the shipping company to win the early release of the sailors. The name of the Japanese company was not immediately available.

On Sunday, Somali pirates released an earlier-seized cargo vessel with 18 Indian crew members after being paid a ransom, Indian officials said.

All the crew members on the Japanese-owned Stolt Valor were safe, Abdul Gani Sarang, chairman of the National Union of Seafarers of India, told the NDTV news channel. He did not say who paid the ransom or give an amount.

In a thwarted attack Saturday, Russia's navy said its guided-missile frigate Neustrashimy, or Intrepid, was guarding three cargo ships when it received a distress signal from the Rabih.

Several speedboats loaded with pirates approached the Saudi ship, but were repelled after the Russians sent a helicopter, said Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo.