The Virginian-Pilot: Expert says attack on Nicholas "consistent" with piracy

The prosecution’s piracy expert acknowledged Wednesday that it was “not uncommon” for pirates to hijack fishing vessels and use them in attacks on merchant vessels, which could bolster the defense’s argument that the five Somalis charged with piracy were kidnapped and forced into the act.

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Somali Pirates Attack Greek Ship....maybe?

Somali pirates have attacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier late last week in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen.

However, a Greek spokesman says the ship’s managers did not confirm the incident.


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Reuters: Seized tanker's captain dies, Alabama attacked again

2 for 1 article - Captain of a chemical tanker was killed during a pirate attack and the Maersk Alabama ('famous' for having an American crew that was attacked by pirates) was attacked again...but thankfully their security detachment fended off the attack.


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AP: Pirate risk forges unlikely high seas alliances

Oh look, networking on the high seas....
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World powers including the U.S., Russia and China are teaming up at sea to tackle the pirates plaguing Somalia's lawless coast, as a sharp increase in attacks has forced nations who may be rivals on land to make unlikely alliances.

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'Experts' lead Saudi tanker talks

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Negotiations between Somali pirates and the owners of a captured Saudi tanker are being conducted by a multinational specialist firm, the BBC has learnt.

A reported figure of $25m (£17m) for the MV Sirius Star was denied by the company, which specialises in kidnap and ransom talks, shipping sources say.

Shipping industry experts expect the ransom for the tanker, its 25 crew, and $100m cargo of oil to be much higher.

Regional leaders at crisis talks have appealed for international help.

Senior officials from countries bordering the Red Sea, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia, met in Cairo and called for political, humanitarian and economic help from the international community.

Egypt's Deputy Foreign Minister, Wafaa Bassem, said Somalia had to be helped by the international community to stop it becoming a "magnet for pirates".

'World only cares about pirates' Press calls for collective action on pirates IMB piracy map The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

The captured tanker and its crew, which includes two Britons, are being held near the Somali port of Harardhere.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says the crew are believed to be being well treated while intensive discussions are being held by their captors over how best to proceed.

He says the Somali pirates are said to be stunned at the huge size of their catch and some want it to be treated as being worth the same as 10 ships.

Others, he says, are arguing for a quick deal at a reasonable price, aware that they may already be attracting unwanted attention from warships patrolling the area.

In a rare victory against the organised gangs, the Indian navy earlier said it had sunk a suspected pirate "mother ship" after it failed to stop for an inspection in the Gulf of Aden, several hundred kilometres north of the location where the hijackers boarded the Sirius Star.

Escort plea

Correspondents say the pirates who seized the Sirius Star on Saturday are a sophisticated group with contacts in Dubai and neighbouring countries.

Money from previous hijackings has been used to buy new boats and weapons as well as develop a network across the Horn of Africa.

On board a Nato warship heading towards Somalia

Shipping companies are now weighing up the risks of using the short-cut route to and from Europe via the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.

However, travelling around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope would add several weeks to average journey times and substantially increase the cost of goods for consumers.

Maersk, one of the world's biggest shipping firms, announced on Thursday that some of its fleet, mainly tankers, would no longer use the Gulf of Aden unless there were more naval escorted convoys.

BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut says there is currently no formal system of convoys in the area.

Indian and Russian ships are working independently in the region, while Nato and the US Navy are working together, advising merchant ships that they are in the area and can protect them.

Other warships are escorting World Food Programme ships carrying aid destined for Somalia, and merchant ships can travel with them as long as they do not slow them down.

A naval taskforce is due to be sent by the EU in December.

Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law

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On Saturday, off the coast of East Africa, pirates seized their largest catch ever: a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker called the Sirius Star. The brazen attack came on the heels of the capture of a Ukrainian vessel (loaded with armaments destined for Kenya) by Somali pirates in September. Humanitarian food shipments into Somalia have had naval escort for nearly a year -- evidence of how much the security of sea-lanes has eroded. Media reports suggest that Somali pirates have already attacked more than 80 ships in 2008.

These are unprecedented and dangerous developments. Suppressing piracy and the slave trade, accomplished by the last quarter of the 19th century, were among mankind's great civilizing achievements. These were brought about by major maritime powers such as Great Britain and the United States. Indeed, in the American republic's earliest days, President Jefferson dispatched the infant U.S. Navy to confront the Barbary pirates, both on shore and at sea.

By the 1970s, as a part of a growing chaos in parts of Africa and Asia, incidents of piracy began to pick up. But it was not until the 21st century that piracy has experienced a meteoric rise, with the number of attacks increasing by double-digit rates per year. Last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, 263 actual and attempted pirate attacks took place. Large maritime areas have now become known as pirate heavens, where mariners can expect to be routinely molested. The Victorian self-confidence that drove pirates from the seas is gone.

Twenty-first century economics being what they are, the pirates have been more interested in the payment of ransom by anxious owners and insurers than in the vessels or their cargoes. Piracy is nonetheless a vicious and violent activity that exposes the world's merchant mariners to additional risk of death or injury. Even more fundamentally, the dramatic surge in piracy is, like terrorism, part of a broad challenge to civilization and international order.

Experience -- especially that of colonial America -- suggests that a few sporadic antipirate efforts will not be enough to solve the problem. Only a dedicated naval campaign, along with a determined effort to close the pirates' safe havens, will succeed in sending piracy back to the history books.

There has been some progress on this front. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has dispatched a formidable multinational force -- including British, Italian and Greek ships -- to join the American, French, Canadian and Danish vessels already cruising off Somalia's vast coastline. France has also aggressively pursued pirates, freeing captured vessels and hostages.

Capturing pirates is not the critical problem. Rather, the issue is how to handle those in captivity. Traditionally, pirates fell within that category of illegitimate hostiles that once included slave traders, brigands on the roads and, in wartime, unprivileged or "unlawful" enemy combatants. As Judge Nicholas Trott, presiding over a pirate trial, explained in 1718: "It is lawful for any one that takes them, if they cannot with safety to themselves bring them under some government to be tried, to put them to death." This law, of course, has changed since the 18th century. Pirates, brigands and unlawful combatants must now be tried before they can be punished.

One solution would be for the capturing state to press charges based on the much misunderstood and abused principle of "universal" jurisdiction. This is the notion that any state may criminalize and punish conduct that violates certain accepted international-law norms. Although its application in most circumstances is dubious -- there is very little actual state practice supporting the right of one state to punish the nationals of a second for offenses against the citizens of a third -- piracy is one area where a strong case for universal jurisdiction can be made (if only because piratical activities often take place on the high seas, beyond any state's territorial jurisdiction).

Moreover, given the nature of naval operations, discerning who is a pirate is usually a much easier task than separating Taliban and al Qaeda members from innocent bystanders. This fact, all things being equal, should make the task of prosecuting captured pirates an easier process, both from a legal and public-relations perspective.

The key problem is that America's NATO allies have effectively abandoned the historical legal rules permitting irregular fighters to be tried in special military courts (or, in the case of pirates, admiralty courts) in favor of a straightforward criminal-justice model. Although piracy is certainly a criminal offense, treating it like bank robbery or an ordinary murder case presents certain problems for Western states.

To begin with, common criminals cannot be targeted with military force. There are other issues as well. Last April the British Foreign Office reportedly warned the Royal Navy not to detain pirates, since this might violate their "human rights" and could even lead to claims of asylum in Britain. Turning the captives over to Somali authorities is also problematic -- since they might face the head- and hand-chopping rigors of Shariah law. Similar considerations have confounded U.S. government officials in their discussions of how to confront this new problem of an old terror at sea.

In the last few years, France determined to return its pirate prisoners to Somalia based on assurances of humanitarian treatment. The U.S. has, of course, rendered terror prisoners to foreign governments based on similar assurances, and only time will tell whether they are genuine. An equally important question is whether the transfer of captured pirates to local authorities will result in prosecution at all. In many areas, local governments may be subject to corruption or intimidation by strong pirate gangs.

One thing is certain: As in the war on terror, the new campaign against piracy will test the mettle of Western governments. It will also require them to balance the rights of lawbreakers against the indisputable rights of the law-abiding to not live their lives in danger and fear.

Messrs. Rivkin and Casey are Washington, D.C., lawyers who served in the Justice Department under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Pirates hijack Thai fishing boat off Somali coast

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Kuala Lumpur - Pirates have hijacked a Thai fishing boat with 16 crew members off the coast of Somalia, bringing the number of pirate attacks in the troubled region to 95 this year, a maritime watchdog said Wednesday.

The vessel, which was seized Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden, had made a distress call late Monday as it was being chased by pirates in two speedboats, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

However, the phone line got cut. The Thai boat was heading for the Middle East, said Choong. He said the fate of the crew members remains unknown.

Pirates Seize 7 ships in 12 Days, Latest from Iran

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR and BARBARA SURK , 11.18.08, 12:56 PM EST

Somali pirates hijacked their seventh ship in 12 days on Tuesday, as the U.S. Navy reported that pirates had seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

U.S. Navy Commander Jane Campbell of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said the bulk cargo carrier was flying a Hong Kong flag but was operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The status of the crew or the cargo was not known, she said.

Elsewhere, pirates anchored a hijacked Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million in crude oil off the Somali coast on Tuesday, causing residents in impoverished fishing villages to gawk in amazement at the size of the 1,080 foot (329 meter) tanker.

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have surged recently, despite the presence of NATO ships, U.S. warships and a Russian frigate all working to prevent piracy in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

International Maritime Bureau on Sunday reported five hijackings since Nov. 7, before the hijackings of the Saudi ship or the Iranian ship were announced

With few other options, shipowners in past piracy cases have ended up paying ransoms for their ships, cargos and crew.

The U.S. and other naval forces decided against intervention for now. NATO said it would not divert any of its three warships from the Gulf of Aden and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet also said it did not expect to send ships to try to intercept the Saudi supertanker, the MV Sirius Star. The tanker was seized over the weekend about 450 nautical miles off the Kenyan coast.

Never before have Somali pirates seized such a giant ship so far out to sea - and never a vessel so large. The captors of the Sirius Star anchored the ship, with a full load of 2 million barrels of oil and 25 crew members, close to a main pirate den on the Somali coast, Harardhere.

Iranian-Operated Cargo Ship Hijacked Off Somali Coast

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The U.S. Navy says a cargo ship has been hijacked off the Somalia coast — the latest in a series of attacks by pirates operating out of the African country.

Navy Commander Jane Campbell of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says the 26,000-ton bulk cargo carrier was attacked Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden.

She says the ship was flying a Hong Kong flag but is operated by the Islamic Republic of IranShipping Lines.

The status of the crew or its cargo were not known. Campbell says the ship is likely heading toward an anchorage site off the Somali coast.

The ship's name or other details were not immediately known.

The wheat-loaded Delight, bound for Iran, had 25 crew members on board and was captured off the coast of Yemen, Reuters reported.

The hijacking comes just days after a Saudi oil supertanker was hijacked and anchored off a Somali port.

The ship was carrying wheat to Iran's Bandar Abbas port, Reuters cites a Chinese news agency as reporting.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Pirates seize Saudi supertanker

An undated photo of the Sirius Star tanker. (Newsis; Daewoo shipping yards via AP)

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By Robert F. Worth and Mark Mcdonald
Published: November 18, 2008

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia: A hijacked Saudi-owned supertanker carrying more than $100 million worth of crude oil is approaching Somali waters where it is expected to anchor so that negotiations can begin on the release of the vessel and its 25 crew, United States navy officials said Tuesday.

The vessel, the 1,080-foot Sirius Star, is the largest ship ever seized by pirates — about the size of an aircraft carrier — and was captured off the coast of Kenya.

"At this time we believe the ship is just off the Somali coast," said Commander Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, stationed in Bahrain. "We don't have a specific indication that the ship is at anchor, but if it follows the pattern of previous attacks, that's what will happen and negotiations will begin between the pirates and the owners of ship."

Although the supertanker's exact location near the Somali coast is not clear, in the past most pirates have brought hijacked vessels to a stretch of coastline between Eyl in the north to the Harradera region to the south, Campbell said in a telephone interview.

The hijacking follows a string of increasingly brazen attacks by Somali pirates in recent months, but this appeared to be the first time that pirates have seized a loaded oil tanker.

Asked about a possible naval intervention, Campbell said: "Once the attack takes place, this is a hostage situation, and there are 25 crew members on board that ship. As with any hostage situation, there has to be concern for those individuals." Negotiations with pirates have often taken weeks or even months. A Ukrainian vessel hijacked in September, loaded with tanks and other heavy weapons, is still being held at Hobyo on the Somali coast, where the ship's crew remain captives, Campbell said.

The International Maritime Bureau, the global clearinghouse for piracy reporting, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has seen a sharp increase in maritime piracy this year.

Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting center at the bureau, said Tuesday that 88 ships have been attacked in the Gulf of Aden alone this year. And 14 hijacked ships remain in the gulf — the heavily armed hijackers still on board, with the crews, cargo and the vessels themselves being held for ransom.

"They're still at sea and still negotiating," he said, noting that as ransom payoffs have risen, pirates have raised their demands. "They know the going rate."

Only a few years ago, the average ransom was in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now payments can range from $500,000 to $2 million.

The pirates' profits are set to reach a record $50 million in 2008, Somali officials say. Shipping firms are usually prepared to pay, because the sums are low compared with the value of the ships.

The attack on the Sirius Star took place despite an increased multinational naval presence off the Somali coast, where most of the recent hijackings have taken place. The pirates, often armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, travel in speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment.

The supertanker was hijacked more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, navy officials said. That is far to the south of most recent attacks, suggesting that the pirates may be expanding their range in an effort to avoid the multinational naval patrols now plying the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

"I'm stunned by the range of it," said Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference in Washington. The ship's distance from the coast was "the longest distance I've seen for any of these incidents," he said.

The vessel was headed for the United States when it was seized, Reuters reported.

Maritime experts recently have noticed a new development in the gulf — the pirates' use of "mother ships," large oceangoing trawlers carrying fleets of speedboats that are then deployed when a new prize is encountered.

"They launch these boats and they're like wild dogs," said Choong in Kuala Lumpur. "They attack the ship from the port, from starboard, from all points, shooting, scaring the captain, firing RPGs and forcing the ship to stop."

There are some countermeasures the merchant ships can use when approaching pirates are spotted. Fire-retardant foam or huge blasts of water can be sprayed from the ship to douse the would-be hijackers.

Once pirates get aboard, however, the ship is theirs, because crews on commercial vessels are rarely armed, according to Choong and other maritime experts. "They are not mentally or physically fit enough to handle weapons," he said.

Nor do many ship owners use armed contractors — seagoing mercenaries — to fight or ward off approaching pirates. Experts said crew safety and insurance liability were overriding concerns of captains and owners.

"We do not advocate this, having armed escorts on board," said Lee Yin Mui, assistant director of research at the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships at Sea. Known as ReCAAP, the 16-nation network is based in Singapore.

"Armed escorts could only escalate the situation," she said, "and perhaps trigger off heavy crossfire."

The Sirius Star is owned by Vela International, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia-based oil giant Saudi Aramco. Its 25-member crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, the United States Navy said.

Robert F. Worth reported from Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Mark McDonald reported from Hong Kong and Alan Cowell contributed from Paris

Pirates Anchor Supertanker off Somalia

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NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- A hijacked supertanker carrying up to $100 million worth of crude oil -- the largest vessel seized to date in an escalating regional piracy crisis -- was believed to have anchored off Somalia Tuesday, its operator said.

An undated photo of the Sirius Star in South Korean waters.

The Sirius Star's crew of 25, including British, Croatian, Polish, Filipino and Saudi nationals, are reported to be safe, according to Dubai-based Vela International Marine.

"Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew," said Vela President Salah Kaaki. "We are in communication with their families and are working toward their safe and speedy return."

The Saudi-owned vessel was seized on Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya in what Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called "an outrageous act."

The incident is the latest in a series of major acts of piracy around the Gulf of Aden that have cost the international shipping industry millions of dollars and threatened a key global trade route.

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said it was not expecting to send ships to intercept the tanker. NATO also said it would not divert any of three ships currently in the Gulf of Aden, The Associated Press reported. Watch how attack may point to expansion in piracy in region »

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, speaking during a visit to Athens, condemned the hijacking, saying: "piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together," according to AP.

U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet Cmdr. Jane Campbell said the tanker -- flagged in Liberia and owned by the Saudi Aramco company -- weighed more than 300,000 metric tons and was more than three times the size of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

A multinational naval force including vessels from the U.S., the UK and Russia has been patrolling the Indian Ocean waters seas near the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, following a sharp increase in pirate attacks in the region.

The burgeoning piracy crisis has flourished in lawless Somalia where almost two decades without a central government has left a country wracked by conflict, chaos and poverty.

"It was attacked more than 450 nautical offshore of Mombasa. This means that the pirates are now operating in an area of over 1.1 million square miles. This is a measure of the determination of the pirates and ... a measure of how lucrative piracy could become," Campbell said.

Campbell said the Navy does not expect to dispatch a vessel to aide the super tanker because it does not have dangerous weapons aboard like the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship loaded with arms that was seized by pirates on September 25.

Oil industry insiders say a tanker of the Sirius Star's size can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil, and the ship's operator says it is fully laden.

South Korean officials said on Sunday that armed gunmen hijacked a Japanese freighter and its 23-member crew off the coast of Somalia. The hijacking came as the Korean government was considering sending a warship to join those of other countries to combat piracy in the area.

A Russian patrol ship also thwarted an attack on a Saudi vessel.

Eleven vessels are currently being held by pirates hoping to secure ransoms for their release, according to AP. They include the MV Faina, which was hijacked along with 20 crew and a cargo of weapons and T-72 tanks.

Ninety percent of ships in the area are using a guarded corridor and there had been no hijackings inside the zone since it was set up on August 22, Danish Commodore Per Bigum Christensen told AP last week.

Around 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels pass along the crucial shipping route each year.

Meanwhile, a Norwegian shipping firm has ordered its vessels to avoid the waters off the Horn of Africa and criticized governments for failing to curb the wave of piracy.

The decision by the maritime company Odfjell SE means its 90-plus ships will take the additional time and expense to sail around the southern tip of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal, a shortcut for mariners for nearly a century and a half.

Pirates seize Saudi tanker off African coast: US

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1 hour ago

DUBAI (AFP) — Pirates on Monday attacked and took control of the Saudi-owned very large crude carrier Sirius Star off the east coast of Africa, a spokesman for the US Navy 5th fleet said.

"The vessel is under the pirates' control," the spokesman told AFP following a statement saying that the tanker, which is owned by Saudi Aramco, came under attack more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya.

The ship carried 25 crew members from Croatia, Britain, Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia, the statement added.

The 318,000-tonne vessel, launched earlier this year, is flagged in Liberia and operated by Vela International.

The International Maritime Bureau has reported that at least 83 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January, of which 33 were hijacked. Of those, 12 vessels and more than 200 crew were still in the hands of pirates.

Last week, the European Union started a security operation off the coast of Somalia, north of Kenya, to combat growing acts of piracy and protect ships carrying aid agency deliveries. It is the EU's first-ever naval mission.

Dubbed Operation Atlanta, the mission, endorsed by the bloc's defence ministers at talks in Brussels, is being led by Britain, with its headquarters in Northwood, near London.

Pirates are well organised in the area where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world's oil transits.

They operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.

NATO warships, along with ships and aircraft from several other nations have been deployed in the region to protect commercial shipping.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.

Somali Pirates Free Ship, Seize Another

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By VOA News  16 November 2008

Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker with 23 crew members on board, soon after releasing another ship for which they received a ransom.

The South Korean foreign ministry says pirates seized theChemstar Venus and its crew of five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos off the coast of Somalia late Saturday.  The ship is owned by a Japanese company.  There has been no word on the condition of the crew.

The hijacking came shortly after pirates freed another Japanese-owned chemical tanker, the Stolt Valor, on  Saturday.  Indian officials say all crew members aboard that ship are safe, including 18 Indians, two Filipinos, a Bangladeshi and a Russian.  

Officials say a ransom was paid to the pirates, who seized the ship in September.   

In a separate incident, Russia's navy says its forces prevented the seizure of a Saudi-owned vessel during a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden Saturday.

Russian officials say a navy warship was guarding three cargo vessels through the Gulf when it received a distress call from the Saudi ship, Rabih.  Officials say navy forces repelled the pirates, who were approaching the Saudi ship on speedboats.

International Maritime officials say at leaset 83 have been attacked off Somalia this year, with 33 of them hijacked.  The pirates are currently holding about 11 ships, including a Ukrainian cargo vessel carrying 33 tanks. 

Somalia's interim government is fighting a strengthening Islamist insurgency, and does not have forces to patrol its territorial waters. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

 

Two pirates die in shoot out with Royal Navy

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Boats from British frigate encircle pirate dhow prior to shoot out in which two pirate suspects were killed

November 12, 2008

The U.K. Royal Navy looks to be taking advantage of new rules of engagement that allow it to be "more robust" in dealing with pirates. It has shot and killed two of them. Here's the official version of events from the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

HMS Cumberland whilst conducting routine Maritime Security Operations in the Gulf of Aden on November 11, had course to board a Yemeni flagged dhow, towing a skiff which they had reason to believe had been involved in an attack on the Danish-registered MV Powerful earlier in the day.

Various non-forcible methods had been used in an attempt to stop the dhow but they were unsuccessful. Sea boats were launched to circle the dhow in an attempt to encourage it to stop-- these boats were fired at from the dhow and the crews returned fire in self defense. The dhow crew subsequently surrendered and a compliant boarding followed. It was then clear that two personnel, believed to be pirates, had been shot and killed.

A Yemeni national was also found injured and later died, despite receiving emergency treatment from the ship's doctor. It is unclear whether his injuries were as a result of the firefight or a previous incident involving the pirates.

An MOD spokesman said:

"Yesterday a crew from the frigate HMS Cumberland boarded a foreign flagged dhow, believed to be Yemeni, which had been positively identified in an earlier hijacking attempt on a Danish vessel. Prior to boarding, boats launched by Cumberland to intercept the dhow were involved in an exchange of fire. Two foreign nationals, believed to be Somali pirates, were shot and killed in self defense. A Yemeni national was also found injured and later died, despite receiving emergency treatment from the ship's doctor. It is unclear whether his injuries were as a result of the firefight or a previous incident involving the pirates. As with all shooting incidents, a post shooting incident investigation is currently being conducted."

TURKISH SHIP TAKEN

In a separate incident, however, pirates succeeded in hijacking a Turkish-flag chemical carrier, the Karagol, with 14 crew aboard, 16 miles off Aden. Though another Turkish owned ship, the Yasa Neslihan, is already being held by the pirates, the Karagol is the first Turkish ship flying the national flag to be seized. It is owned by YDC Denizcilik A.S., a company in which ruling AK Party Istanbul deputy Hasan Kemal Yardimci reportedly has an interest.

Pirates Seize two ships from Gulf of Aden

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Pirates seize two ships from Gulf of Aden * 44 crew members onboard taken hostage

KUALA LUMPUR: Heavily armed pirates have seized a Philippines cargo ship off Somalia and taken 23 crew members hostage, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday.

“Pirates armed with semi-automatic weapons and RPGs successfully managed to attack and hijack the ship,” said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur. The nationality of the crew was not disclosed. Choong said the incident brought the number of attacks in Somalia’s waters to 83 this year, including 33 hijacks. Twelve vessels and more than 200 crew are still in the hands of pirates. Meanwhile a second ship chartered by chemical tanker shipping group Stolt-Nielsen was also seized by gunmen, nearly two months after they hijacked Stolt Valor, a chemical tanker on its way to India. “The ship has a 21-member crew. All are Filipino,” said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Association that monitors piracy, adding that the Philippines-flagged carrier is managed by Victoria Ship Management in Manila and is on a long-term charter to Stolt-Nielsen.

Piracy off Somalia has made the sealane linking the Middle East Gulf and Asia to Europe and beyond via the Suez Canal one of the most dangerous in the world. Hijackers took a ship managed by Danish company Clipper Group with 13 crew members last week. A Saudi Arabia-flagged refrigerated cargo ship was also attacked on Monday, about 250 nautical miles off Mogadishu in the eastern part of Somalia. “It was chased and fired upon by pirates in two speed boats, armed with guns and RPGs. The ship made evasive manoeuvres and managed to escape,” Choong told AFP. agencies

Navy saves Jag Arnav from Somalian pirates

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NEW DELHI: The Navy on Tuesday foiled attempts by Somalian pirates to hijack an Indian merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, infested by heavily-armed pirates.

The warship patrolling the area detected the cargo vessel’s SOS and set off a swift operation to rescue the merchant vessel and escort it to safety.

Mumbai-based Great Eastern Shipping Co’s Jag Arnav, a 38,000 ton bulk carrier, had crossed the Suez Canal when it was attacked by pirates who surrounded the vessel in small boats. The Indian warship, INS Tabar, sent “an armed helicopter with marine commandos... to intervene and prevent” the hijacking, a statement by the Indian Navy said.

In its first counter-piracy mission, India had decided to deploy a ship in the region to rescue vessels in distress in troubled waters which provide a vital trade route. The move was prompted by the hijack of a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden and a spate of attacks by pirates from Somalia, which is caught up in Islamic insurgency, and other African countries. A Japanese-owned merchant vessel carrying a 22-member crew, including 18 Indians, was hijacked by Somali pirates last month in the Gulf of Aden. This followed protests by the sailors’ families. The defence ministry had said the warship was being sent to instil confidence among sailors. More than 90% of India’s foreign trade by volume and 77% by value is shipped through the region, mainly through the Suez Canal. Tuesday’s attack took place at 10.30 am, when the ship was 60 nautical miles east of Aden, according to reports at the Mumbai-headquarters Western Naval Command (WNC). However, the statement did not specify how many crew members were aboard the vessel or their nationality. According to the International Maritime Bureau, 199 incidents of piracy or attempted piracy have been reported world-wide from January to September this year of which 63 were in the busy Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast. As many as twelve vessels remain the in hands of pirates along with over 200 crew. While NATO had sent three ships to the Gulf of Eden, the European Union has dispatched at least four warships backed by aircraft which will begin patrolling in December.

Clipper Group Ship Hijacked in Gulf of Aden

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Despite a significantly stepped up naval presence in the region, yet another ship was hijacked on Friday at 1240 GMT in the Gulf of Aden.Denmark's Clipper Projects, operators of M.V. CEC Future, today reported that an emergency alarm had been activated on board the vessel and that it had been boarded by an unknown number of persons. The boarding was confirmed by a coalition aircraft.According to a short statement from the Master, the 13 crew members (mainly Russian) were unharmed and the vessel was being directed towards the northern shore of Somalia.In a second statement today, Clipper Projects said there had been no contact with the hijackers.Clipper said the crew consisted of 11 Russian citizens, a Georgian and an Estonian and that, according to reports from the area, the vessel was sailing close to the Somalian northern shore."As piracy is part of trading today, Clipper crew is instructed on how to react if the vessel is hijacked," said the statement. "It has to be remembered that in the vast majority of hijacking cases the crew will be released unhurt after some time."Clipper said it is in close communication with the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the crew and to establish contact to the hijackers.M.V. CEC Future is a general cargo vessel of 4,980 GT, built in 1994 in Arhus and is flying Bahamian flag. The vessel is technically operated by Clipper Project Ship Management in Copenhagen, Denmark.

No let-up in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia

No let-up in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia

Written by Miano Kihu

People gather near a rescued Spanish boat at Port Victoria after it was released off Somalia where it had been captured by pirates last year. November 12, 2008: A Danish registered general cargo vessel Mv CEC Future is the latest to be hijacked off the Somali coast in the never-ending episodes of piracy. The vessel which flies a Bahamas flag has 13 crew on board comprising  eight Russians, four Estonians and  one Georgian. Reports reaching Mombasa say the vessel was hijacked within the Gulf of Aden while on its way from Middle East to Asia.   The incident brings to 11 the number of vessels in the hands of the pirates including the Mv Faina, the Rusian vessel taken captive by the pirates six weeks ago while transporting military equipment to Mombasa. The International Maritime Bureau said last week that about 60 out of the 200 piracy incidents recorded worldwide this year occurred in the waters off war- ravaged Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. This compares with 36 attacks blamed on Somali pirates out of 198 global attacks reported in 2007.

Chemical Tanker Hijacked off Lawless Somali Coast

From Amanda!

CNN 11 November 2008

(CNN) -- Armed pirates have hijacked a Philippines chemical tanker off the coast of Somalia, but Indian forces thwarted an attack on one of its vessels, authorities said Tuesday.

A U.S. Navy patrol monitors the MV Faina -- in the hands of pirates since September 25.

Twenty-three crew members were on board the chemical tanker when pirates seized it in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He did not disclose the nationalities of the crew members.

Thirty-three ships have been hijacked off the Somali coast this year despite increased security, Choong said.

Eleven vessels -- most notably the Ukrainian freighter, MV Faina which is loaded with tanks and weapons, seized September 25 -- remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crew.

Meanwhile, Indian marines repulsed a pirate attack on an Indian merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, the country's defense ministry said.

An armed helicopter carrying marine commandoes forced the pirates to abort their hijack attempt, the ministry said.

The Indian navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since October 23 to protect Indian merchant vessels on the route.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a multinational force of warships has carved out a narrow shipping corridor off the coast of Somalia that is helping protect merchant vessels from pirate attacks, the force's commander said Monday.

Ninety percent of ships transiting the perilous Gulf of Aden are now using the guarded corridor and there have been no hijackings inside the zone since it was set up on August 22, said Danish Commodore Per Bigum Christensen.

In a telephone interview from his East African base in Djibouti, Christensen said coalition naval forces were also having success using planes, helicopters and drones to find and track suspect vessels until they can be boarded and searched, AP said.

Indian Navy Thwarts Somali Pirates

Indian Navy thwarts Somali pirates

Special Correspondent

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 AT 5:11 PM

Tags: pirate

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Rescued - the Indian merchant vessel M V Jag Arnav

MUMBAI: In a swift operation off the Somalian coast, an Indian Navy warship rescued an Indian merchant vessel, the Jag Arnav, from being hijacked by Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday.The action is seen as a strong signal to the heavily armed Somalian pirates who have menaced merchant shipping in the area for the past several months, and once again established the Indian Navy's 'blue water' capabilities.Reports reaching the Mumbai-headquartered Western Naval Command (WNC), the sword arm of the Indian Navy, said that the attack took place at 10.30 am, when the ship was 60 nautical miles east of Aden. The alarm signals sent out by the merchant ship was picked up by INS Tabar patrolling in the vicinity.Defence Ministry sources said that an armed helicopter with marine commandos (popularly known as marcos) on board was launched from the INS Tabar to intervene and prevent the pirates from boarding and hijacking the vessel."The naval helicopter fired on the pirates, who then fled from the scene. INS Tabar thereafter closed in on the Indian merchant ship and escorted her to safety. Timely intervention by the Indian naval ship thereby prevented another attack of piracy in the Gulf of Aden," the sources said.The vessel, MV Jag Arnav, a 38,265 tonnes bulk carrier is owned by the Great Eastern Shipping Co Ltd. The ship had transited the Suez Canal a few days ago and was eastward bound in the Gulf of Aden when she came under attack from the pirates.The Indian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrolling in the Gulf of Aden since October 23 as a sizeable portion of our country's trade flows through the Gulf of Aden and there has been a quantum increase in the number of piracy attacks in this region over the last few months. "These patrols are carried out in coordination with the ministry of shipping and are intended to protect Indian merchant vessels from being attacked by pirates and also to instill confidence in our large seafaring community," the sources added. Recently rattled by the frequent hijacking of ships by armed Somalian gunmen and pirates off the Somalia coast, the shipping industry has made crisis calls to London-based International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and United Nations in New York. The shipping industry worldwide has called for real and immediate action against these brazen acts of piracy, kidnapping and armed robbery, carried out with increasing frequency against ships in the Gulf of Aden, by pirates based in Somalia.The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Shipping Federation (ISF) made the appeal in the wake of the hijacking of MT Stolt Valor, a large merchant vessel that was passing off Somalian coast. The ship has over a dozen Indian seamen on board, though according to latest reports, they are all safe.Nearly 40 hijackings have occurred in the Gulf of Aden so far this year, with 133 kidnapped seafarers still being held hostage. The attacks on merchant ships have intensified from weekly to daily, to an estimated three happening every hour now.The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) at Kuala Lumpur, the lead recording body for piracy, estimates that over 1,200 Somalis and at least six major groups are involved. Since the recent incidents of hijacking where Indian ships or Indian crew have been targeted, the Mumbai-based Directorate General of Shipping is in touch with the maritime officials across the world.Following recent attacks, the Indian Navy has been deployed to provide safety to the merchant fleet. The Somalian piracy issue has hottted up so much that The Round Table of International Shipping Associations - BIMCO, Intercargo, International Chamber of Shipping/International Shipping Federation and INTERTANKO, alongwith global trade union federations and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITWF) - has requested to the IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos, to use his organisation's influence to ensure UN backing for increased naval force in order to protect the lives of seafarers and passengers as well as ships and cargos.