Tanker spotted off Somali coast

2008-11-18 16:09

Bosasso - A Saudi supertanker hijacked by pirates with a $100m oil cargo in the largest ever such seizure was approaching the north Somali coast on Tuesday, maritime sources said.

"Some people are saying they have spotted a huge vessel off Eyl. It must be the supertanker," Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers' Association, told Reuters.

The remote coastal village of Eyl, in the semi-autonomous province of Puntland, is a base for pirates who have been attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

They have driven up insurance costs, forced some ships to go round South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, secured millions of dollars in ransom and now carried out one of the most spectacular strikes in maritime history.

The capture of Sirius Star 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya's Mombasa port, and way beyond the Gulf of Aden where most attacks have taken place this year, is their boldest attack and the culmination of several years' increasing activity.

"The latest attack looks like a deliberate two fingers from some very bright Somalis. Anyone who describes them as a bunch of camel herders needs to think again," a Nairobi-based Somalia specialist said.

Pirates 'hit the jackpot'

The seizure was carried out despite an international naval response, including from the Nato alliance and European Union, to protect one of the world's busiest shipping areas.

US, French and Russian warships are also off Somalia.

Mwangura, whose Mombasa-based group has been monitoring piracy for years, predicted the pirates would probably keep the Sirius about eight miles off Eyl, which is heavily protected.

"The world has never seen anything like this ... The Somali pirates have hit the jackpot," he said.

The US navy, which broke news of Sirius' capture and said it was en route to Somalia, could not confirm its location on Tuesday. "The ship is still transiting," said a spokesperson.

A pirate associate in Eyl, reached by Reuters via telephone from Puntland's main port Bosasso, said the ship was on its way to the coast, but he could not say exactly where. It may in fact dock further south than Eyl, he said, identifying himself as "Bashir".

Mwangura, who bases information on shipping groups in the area plus family of crew and pirates, said he thought a hijacked Nigerian tug was a "mother-ship" for the November 15 seizure.

"The supertanker was fully loaded, so it was probably low in the water and not that difficult to board," he said, adding that the pirates probably used a ladder or hooked a rope to the side.

Normally, the increasingly well-armed and sophisticated Somali pirates use speedboats and satellite phones to coordinate attacks, with the mother-ship as a base for their operations.

Negotiating ransoms

The seizure of the Sirius, which is three times the size of an aircraft carrier, follows another high-profile strike earlier this year by the pirates when they captured a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks and other military equipment.

They are still holding that vessel and about a dozen others, with more than 200 crew members hostage. Given that the pirates are well-armed with grenades, machine guns and rocket-launchers, foreign forces in the area are steering clear of direct attacks.

Ship owners are negotiating ransoms.

The Sirius held as much as two million barrels of oil, more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports.

It had been heading for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. It had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

- Reuters