Ship hijacked off Somali coast

2005-10-20 22:47

Mogadishu - Gunmen have hijacked yet another ship in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of lawless Somalia in the latest of a spate of such attacks which have prompted dire maritime warnings, officials said on Thursday.

Pirates seized the Maltese-registered MV Pagania on Wednesday as it sailed northward from South Africa to Europe with cargo of iron ore and have demanded a $700 000 ransom for its release, they said.

"They took over the vessel about 90 nautical miles off the Somali coast, near the Puntland region," said Andrew Mwangura of the seafarers' assistance programme from the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

"They are demanding $700 000 before they release the ship and the crew," he told AFP, adding that the number of crew on board, all believed to be Ukrainian, was not immediately known.

In Mogadishu, officials with Somali militias in control of the capital confirmed the attack and said negotiations between the hijackers and the vessel's owners had already begun.

"The gunmen are inside the ship now," one official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The negotiations are under way, some money must be paid."

Piracy has become epidemic in the unpatrolled waters off the coast of Somalia, where are least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded since mid-March, according to the international maritime bureau (IMB).

"Ships are advised to keep as far away as possible from the Somali coast," the IMB said in its latest weekly piracy alert issued on Tuesday before the Pagania was seized.

- AFP