Somali pirates step up activities in the Gulf

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1147970

SOMALI pirates hijacked a Panama- flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, the European’s anti-piracy task force said.

Here is a list of ships under the control of Somali pirates:

•SOCOTRA 1: The Yemeni- owned ship was captured on December 25 last year after it left port with six Yemeni crew.

•ASIAN GLORY: The British- flagged carrier was hijacked on January 1 in Seychelles, with a crew of eight Bulgarians, 10 Ukrainians, five Indians and two Romanians.

•RIM: The Libyan-owned ship was seized on February 2 in Yemen, and had a Syrian crew of 10.

•AL NISR AL SAUDI: Seized on March 1, the Saudi-owned tanker was going from Japan to Jeddah with one Greek and 13 Sri Lankans.

•UBT OCEAN: Seized on March 5, off the coast of Madagascar, the Marshall Islands-registered tanker was carrying oil from the UAE to Tanzania and had a crew of 21.

•SAKOBA: Seized in March, the Spanish-owned fishing vessel carried 10 Kenyans, one Spaniard, one Pole, one Cape Verdean, a Namibian and two Senegalese.

•FRIGIA: Seized on March 23, the Maltese-flagged ship was hijacked off the Indian coast with a crew of 21 – 19 Turks and two Ukrainians.

•MV ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, pirates boarded the roll- on roll-off vessel outside Aden Port. The ship carried 24 crew.

•AL-BARARI: Seized on March 31, the small Indian trade boat was captured after it left Mogadishu port, having delivered food and medicine. It carried a crew of 11.

•In late March, pirates captured seven other small Indian boats known as dhows, with about 100 crew. Three were freed in April.
Maritime advocacy group Ecoterra said the pirates were holding six more cargo dhows.

•SAMHO DREAM: Seized on April 4, the ship was en route to the US from Iraq when it was hijacked east of the Somali coast. The ship had a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos, and carried 2million barrels of crude oil.

•RAK AFRIKANA: Seized on April 11, the Grenadines-flagged cargo ship was hijacked west of the Seychelles.

•Three Thai vessels – PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 – were hijacked on April 17 with a total of 77 crew.

•VOC DAISY: Seized on April 21, the Panama-flagged bulk ship with a crew of 21 Filipinos, was captured southeast of the Omani port of Salalah. The bulk carrier was sailing from the UAE to an unspecified port on the Suez Canal.

•AL-DHAFIR: Seized on May 7, the Yemeni fishing boat had seven Yemeni fisherman.

•MV PANEGA: Seized on May 11, east of the Yemeni port of Aden, the ship had 15 crew. – Reuters