Monday, January 24, 2011
Somali pirates threatened to kill any South Korean seamen they take hostage in revenge for the killing of eight pirates by South Korean troops who stormed a hijacked vessel.
South Korea's navy rescued all 21 crew aboard the 11,500-tonne chemical carrier Samho Jewelry on Friday. The vessel, which was hijacked on Jan. 15, belonged to Samho Shipping whose oil supertanker Samho Dream was released in November.
Here are details of ships held by Somali pirates:
* SOCOTRA 1: Seized on Dec. 25, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni-owned ship has six Yemeni crew.
* ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, 2010. Roll-on roll-off vessel taken 10 miles from Aden. 24 crew.
* JIH-CHUN TSAI 68: Taiwanese fishing vessel seized on March 30. 14 crew: Taiwanese captain, two Chinese and 11 Indonesians.
* RAK AFRIKANA: Seized on April 11. The St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged 7,561-dwt cargo ship was taken 280 miles west of Seychelles..
* Three Thai fishing vessels -- PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 -- hijacked on April 17-18. 77 crew.
* TAI YUAN 227: Taiwanese fishing boat seized on May 6: 24 crew -- nine Chinese, three Vietnamese, three Filipinos, seven Kenyans and two from Mozambique.
* AL-DHAFIR: Seized on May 7. Fishing boat seized off Yemen. Seven Yemeni crew.
* SUEZ: Seized on Aug. 2. Panama-flagged cargo ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. Carrying cement. 23 crew from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
* OLIB G: Seized on Sept. 8. Maltese-flagged merchant vessel with 18 crew -- 15 Georgians, three Turks.
* ASPHALT VENTURE: Seized on Sept. 29: The 3,884-dwt bitumen carrier was heading to Durban from Mombasa. 15 Indian crew.
* GOLDEN WAVE: Seized on Oct. 9. South Korean fishing vessel with 43 crew: 39 Kenyans, two Koreans and two Chinese.
* IZUMI: Seized on Oct. Panama-flagged ship was en route to Mombasa with cargo of steel. 20 Filipino crew.
* YORK: Seized on Oct. 23: Singapore-flagged, Greek managed, 5,076-dwt LPG tanker seized 50 miles from Mombasa. Ship empty after discharging cargo in Mombasa. 17 crew -- German master, two Ukrainians, 14 Filipinos.
* CHOIZIL: Seized on Oct. 26. South-African owned yacht was hijacked after leaving Dar es Salaam. European Union anti-piracy task force rescued one South African but two other crew members were taken ashore as hostages.
* AL-NASSR: Seized Oct. 28. Motorised dhow captured off Yemeni island of Socotra.
* POLAR: Seized on Oct 30: Liberian-owned Panama-flagged 72,825 tonne tanker seized 580 miles east of Socotra. 24 crew -- one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins, 16 Filipinos.
* ALY ZULFECAR: Seized on Nov. 2. Comorian passenger boat was taken inside Tanzania's territorial waters. Nine crew -- one Tanzanian, four Comorians, four from Madagascar. Also 12 Tanzanian and 8 Comorian passengers.
* HANNIBAL II: Seized on Nov. 11. Panama-flagged chemical tanker was taken 860 miles east of Horn of Africa. The 24,105-tonne vessel was sailing to Suez from Malaysia carrying vegetable oil. 31 crew -- 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan.
* YUAN XIANG: Seized on Nov. 12. Chinese-owned cargo ship captured off Oman. 29 Chinese crew.
* ALBEDO: Seized on Nov. 26. Malaysian-owned cargo vessel was taken 900 miles off Somalia as it headed for Mombasa from UAE. 23 crew -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran.
* JAHAN MONI: Seized on Dec. 5. Merchant ship was 1,300 miles east of Somalia en route from Indonesia to Greece via Singapore carrying nickel ore. 26 crew.
* PANAMA: Seized on Dec. 10: Liberian-flagged container ship en route from Tanzania to Beira. 23 crew from Myanmar.
* RENUAR: Seized on Dec. 11: Liberian-owned bulk cargo vessel, 70,156 dwt, captured en route to Fujairah from Port Louis. 24 Filipino crew.
* ORNA: Seized on Dec. 20: The Panama-flagged bulk cargo vessel, 27,915 dwt, owned by the United Arab Emirates, was seized 400 miles northeast of the Seychelles.
* THOR NEXUS: Seized on Dec. 25: Thai-registered 20,377-dwt bulk carrier was hijacked 350 miles off Oman. 27 crew, all Thai.
* SHIUH FU NO 1: Seized Dec. 25, 2010: Somali pirates appear to have seized the Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel near the northeast tip of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The vessel has a crew of 26 Taiwanese, Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.
* EMS RIVER: Seized on Dec. 27: The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged ship 5,200-dwt cargo vessel had about eight crew and was captured in the Gulf of Aden as it headed towards the Suez Canal.
* VEGA 5: Seized before Dec. 31: Somali pirates hijacked the 140 dwt Mozambican-flagged fishing vessel about 200 nautical miles (370 km) southwest of the Comoros. There were two Spaniards, three Indonesians and 19 Mozambicans on board.
* BLIDA: Seized on Jan. 1, 2011: The 20,586-tonne Algerian-flagged bulk carrier was seized about 150 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman. The ship, with 27 crew from Algeria, Ukraine and the Philippines, was heading to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from Salalah with a cargo of clinker.
* EAGLE: Seized on Jan. 17: The 52,163 tonne Greek-owned merchant vessel was en route to India from Jordan when it was seized. It has a crew of 24 Filipinos.
* HOANG SON SUN: Seized on Jan. 19: The 22,835-tonne bulk carrier, which is Mongolian flagged and Vietnamese-owned and has a crew of 24 Vietnamese nationals, was seized about 520 nautical miles southeast of the port of Muscat.
Source: Reuters