BRUSSELS (AFP) — A cargo vessel from Antigua and Barbuda has been seized by pirates off the coast of Oman, the first such attack in the area, a NATO spokesman told AFP on Friday.
"I can confirm a ship, the MV Charelle, has been hijacked Friday afternoon inside Oman's territorial waters", said Commander Chris Davies, the bloc's maritime spokesman.
"This is the first noted case of armed robbery in Oman's territorial waters, outside the normal area where the pirates are operating. It's quite unusual," he said. "The ship is now heading south towards Somalia."
NATO defence ministers earlier Friday agreed to prolong the military alliance's anti-piracy operations in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, with at least six countries ready to take part in the new mission.
At the last count 14 ships were still being held by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, together with more than 200 seamen, almost a quarter of them Filipinos.
The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
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