Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Panama-flagged MV Stella Maris was seized on Sunday near Calula, a port in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland, said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme which monitors piracy in the region. He said the nationalities of the crew were not known.
The seizure followed two attempted hijackings off the pirate-infested Somali coast in the past week, said Noel Choong, head of the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.
"There were 21 crew on board but none of them were Japanese nationals," Choong said.
Puntland presidential adviser Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said 38 "heavily-armed pirates" stormed the ship in international waters in the Gulf of Aden.
"So far we are tracking them down. We want to know where they are going to stay with the ship," Qabowsade told AFP.
The Japanese foreign ministry said it was monitoring the situation but did not believe that Japanese were targeted.
"We are collecting further information on the incident, but from what we've gathered so far, it doesn't seem like it was related to Japan," said Kohei Maruyama, a foreign ministry official.
A Japanese company had leased the ship, but it was registered in Panama and operated by Panamanians, he said.
The hijackers of the 52,000-tonne freighter are yet to make any ransom demands, Mwangura told AFP, adding that he had no information about its port of origin or destination. The ship -- managed by MMS Company of Japan -- was carrying lead and zinc.
The waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years, are considered to be among the most dangerous in the world.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, more than 25 ships were seized off Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of coastline last year despite patrols by an international force based in Djibouti.
"We continue to advise ships to maintain strict vigilance, both visual and radar lookout, when plying these waters," Choong said.
In April, Puntland forces rescued a hijacked vessel from the United Arab Emirates. At least one pirate was killed during the raid while seven were arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.
Source: AFP, July 22, 2008