By Xinhua,
Nairobi : Somali pirates have hijacked a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden, with 25 Indians among a 30-man team of crew on board, a maritime official said Friday.
Andrew Mwangura, East Africa’s coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said: “The pirates seized the Liberian flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden with 30 crew members. There are 25 Indians, three Indonesians and the remaining could be British,” Mwangura told Xinhua over telephone.
“I received the report of the hijack today and I have not established the name of the vessel and where it was sailing to and when exactly the tanker was seized,” Mwangura said.
The Somali pirates have unleashed a reign of terror this year in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The hijacked ships included a Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying crude oil of an estimated value of $100 million, the biggest hijacking in recent history.
The Sirius Star belongs to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Vela International and was carrying two million barrels of oil.
It was hijacked Nov 15 about 833 km off Somalia, along with 25 crew members from Britain, Poland, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.