Somali pirates hijack four more ships; fifth attempt fails - reports
April 14th, 2009 - 10:15 pm ICT by adminSOMALIA (BNO NEWS) — Somali pirates continued their attacks on Tuesday despite the recent successful rescues of a French and U.S. ship which ended in pirates being killed and hostages rescued.
NATO spokeswoman Shona Lowe told BNO News that the Greek-managed M.V. Irene. E.M. was seized in an overnight attack, a rare move for the pirates. Hours later, the Togo-flagged MV Sea Horse was also hijacked by pirates.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s northern coast have also been hijacked. The incidents took place in the past few days but were unreported until now. The agency said 36 people were on board.
“It happened this morning, it has Lebanese owners and is flying under the Togo-flag. It was attacked by three to four skiffs and at present that’s all the information I have,” spokeswoman Lowe told BNO News about the hijacking of the MV Sea Horse. “I’m still trying to get details on the number of crew and their nationalities,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Liberian-flagged Safmarine Asia was also attacked by pirates but Lowe stressed it had not been hijacked. NATO officials told the Reuters news agency that 10 pirates on board three skiffs fired automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at the ship. There were no casualties.
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- Thai Navy disrupts Somali pirate attack on Liberian-flagged vessel - Nov 01, 2010
- Indian Navy captures 61 Somali pirates - Mar 14, 2011
- Somali pirates release Greek ship, then hijack another - Jan 17, 2011
- Indian Navy foils pirate attack on Chinese vessel - May 06, 2011
- Somali pirates attempt to hijack South Korean-flagged vessel near the Comoros Islands - May 05, 2010
- German-owned vessel released from pirate control released - Apr 14, 2011
- Somali pirates hijack German-owned ship with crew of 12 - Jan 26, 2011
- Somali pirates release Panama-flagged MV VOC Daisy - Oct 19, 2010
- Indians on board hijacked oil tanker - May 12, 2012
- Indian Navy thwarts pirate attack; rescues Chinese vessel, crew (Lead, with Images) - May 06, 2011
- Pirates hijack Bulgarian-flagged chemical product tanker in the Gulf of Aden - May 12, 2010
- Indian Navy saves Chinese ship from pirates (Roundup) - May 06, 2011
- Somali pirates hijack Thai cargo ship carrying 27 crew members - Dec 25, 2010
- Hijacked oil tanker has Indians among crew (Lead) - May 12, 2012
Tags: automatic rifles, bno, casualties, fishing boats, gulf of aden, hijacking, hostages, liberian, mv, nationalities, nato officials, rare move, reuters news agency, rocket propelled grenades, safmarine, sea horse, shona, skiffs, somali pirates, spokeswoman