Pirates seize second tanker

2008-08-30 21:05

Mogadishu - Pirates have seized a Malaysian chemical tanker off Somalia, 10 days after a sister ship was hijacked in the same section of the Gulf of Aden, maritime officials said on Saturday.

The Bunga Melati 5 was reportedly hijacked Friday about 14 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen, said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme in the Kenyan port of Mombassa.

"Her sister ship Bunga Melati Dua was also hijacked in the same location mid-last week," he told AFP. The number of crew members involved, and their nationalities, were not known.

In the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia, officials confirmed that, according to local elders, a tanker seized by pirates was laying at anchor near the village of Rasbina.

"We are not sure the time it was hijacked," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, a special adviser in the Puntland presidency.

Could endanger environment

"But we have confirmed that the tanker is different than other (hijacked) ships," he said. "It's loaded with chemicals and could endanger the environment."

The Bunga Melati 5 and the Bunga Melati Dua are among 13 chemical tankers operated by MISC Berhad, based in Kuala Lumpur.

In an apparent reference to the latter vessel, the International Maritime Bureau said pirates armed with automatic weapons hijacked a chemical tanker and its 19 crew members on August 21 in the Gulf of Aden.

"The vessel was carrying a cargo of flammable chemical cargo from Fos, France to India," it said, adding that warships from an international naval coalition that patrols Somali waters were summoned to help.

Fos-sur-Mer is near the main French Mediterranean port of Marseille.

Somali waters are among the most dangerous in the world, with the International Maritime Bureau reporting no less than 24 acts of piracy there in the first half of this year.

- AFP