Saturday, August 23, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Pirates fired on a Japanese-operated cargo ship off Somalia on Saturday and attempted to board the vessel but failed to seize it, an international maritime watchdog said.
The attempted hijack comes just days after pirates seized four other vessels — Malaysian, Iranian, Japanese and German — in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast.
The Japanese-operated ship with 20 crew was heading to the Middle East from Singapore when the attack took place in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
"Two speed boats chased and opened fire at the Japanese-operated ship. A suspected mother ship was in the vicinity. But the Japanese ship managed to escape after the captain increased speed and took evasive maneuvers," he told The Associated Press.
The ship's crew was safe and no one was injured in the hour-long chase, Choong said.
On Tuesday, pirates seized a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew in the Gulf of Aden. Two days later, they hijacked an Iranian bulk carrier with 29 crew, a Japanese-operated chemical tanker with 19 crew and a German-operated cargo ship with nine crew in the same area.
"It appears pirates are still trying to hijack ships in the location," Choong said.
He said the United Nations and the international community must take action to secure the area.
Somalia is the world's piracy hotspot. Thirty out of 36 attacks on ships off Somalia's coast have occurred in the Gulf of Aden, a busy waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The latest attacks have raised alarm among seafarers using the key shipping route. The International Maritime Bureau has issued an urgent warning to ships to be on strict watch, Choong said.
Source: AP, Aug 23, 2008