Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Somali pirates hijacked a U.K.- flagged vessel, the British government said, marking the fourth ship seized in a week.
No British citizens were on the Asian Glory, a car carrier, when it was taken, a Foreign Office spokesman said by phone today. He was unable to provide additional details.
The vessel is the fourth seized by Somali pirates after the hijacking of the chemical tanker M/V Pramoni yesterday, the bulk carrier MV Navios Apollon on Dec. 28 and the MV St James Park the same day. The St. James Park has arrived off Somalia, the European Union Naval Force Somalia said on its Web site today.
“Our priority remains the quick and safe return of our crew and the ship,” London-based Zodiac Maritime Agencies Ltd., owners of the Asian Glory and St. James Park, said on its Web site yesterday. “We still have had no contact from the pirates.”
The hijackings are the first successful attacks on merchant ships in the 500-mile security corridor since July. Some 20 warships from the EU, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other countries patrol off Somalia, concentrating on the Gulf of Aden, a chokepoint leading to the Suez Canal that’s used by 30,000 ships a year carrying about a 10th of world trade.
Somali pirates now hold at least 12 ships, according to EU Navfor information and Bloomberg calculations. The Asian Glory has 25 crew, including eight Bulgarians, and was hijacked 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) off Somalia, Agence France Presse reported today, citing the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.
The Asian Glory was built in 1994 and the St. James Park, a chemical carrier, in 1993 with a carrying capacity of 16,207 cubic meters, according to information on Zodiac Maritime’s Web site.
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