Somali Pirates Hijack Two Ships

LONDON — A cargo ship and a chemical tanker have both been hijacked by pirates in the perilous waters off the coast of Somalia, bringing to four the number of ships seized in the past week, officials said Saturday.

The multiple hijackings indicate that piracy remains a serious problem a year after an international naval armada began deploying off Somalia to protect shipping.

The British-flagged Asian Glory was taken late Friday roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) east of Somalia, said Commander John Harbour, a spokesman with the European Union task force charged with combating piracy off Somalia.

The same day, the Singaporean-flagged Pramoni, a chemical tanker with a crew of 24, was seized by pirates in the heavily defended Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest waterways.

Harbour said the Asian Glory's crew of 25 – from Ukraine, Bulgaria, India and Romania – appeared to be safe and that the pirates had not yet made contact with the ship's owner, Zodiac Management Agencies.

"The standard procedure for the pirates is to get the ship back to their stronghold and then contact the owner," he said. "I don't know yet where the ship is bound."

Somali pirates have hijacked more than 80 ships in the past two years, with many of the seizures earning the pirates multi-million-dollar ransoms. Pirates now hold 14 vessels and close to 300 crew members.

Harbour said the Asian Glory was headed for, but had not yet entered, the internationally recognized travel corridor patrolled by the European Union when it was hijacked.

Officials said the Pramoni was traveling east toward India when it was seized. The ship's master radioed that the crew – from Indonesia, China, Nigeria and Vietnam – was safe. The vessel is now also heading toward Somalia.

A spokesman for Zodiac confirmed the Asian Glory hijacking and said Saturday the crew's families were being notified. The company said it would limit the information it released out of concern for the crew's safety.

Zodiac also owns a chemical tanker, the St. James Park, that was hijacked Monday. A statement on the company's Web site indicated Saturday that the vessel is now anchored off the coast of Somalia.

The company said it has not yet been contacted by the pirates holding the St. James Park and its 26-person crew.

Three hours after that hijacking, a Panamanian-flagged carrier with 19 crew members was seized by pirates off the southern coast of Somalia. The ship is managed in Greece and was carrying fertilizer from the U.S. to India.

___

Associated Press writer Jason Straziuso in Nairobi contributed to this report.

Comments

[countbeckula]

09:41 AM on 01/03/2010

Further proof that the special UNSC resolution allowing pursuit and seizure of pirate vessels into the Somali territorial sea should be extended yet again.

[ramal]

09:04 AM on 01/03/2010

Put a company of U.S. Marines on every American ship and a company of British Marines on every U.K. ship in the area with orders to shoot to kill with the shipping lines footing the bill. I would think that would solve a good deal of the mischief in a very short time.

[countbeckula]

09:38 AM on 01/03/2010

Liability issues, my friend. It's not at all worth it. The international shipping community is overwhelmingly against having armed forces on their vessels.

[wdw505]

09:59 AM on 01/03/2010

then they should not arm their ships.........let's let them be the new targets

laughing

[wdw505]

10:03 AM on 01/03/2010

sounds like a plan

[lastep]

03:31 AM on 01/03/2010

thanks for letting me have another fan MS. Moderator

[lastep]

03:22 AM on 01/03/2010

Shoot them like you did before Mr. President

[RButler]

08:52 PM on 01/02/2010

If we're not going to do anything about these pirates, quit reporting it as news and lets' concern ourselves with things we are willing to do something about. Plain and simple. This is analogous to a woman with an abusive boyfriend who isn't willing to do anything about the situation and she should quit complaining about it to her friends.

[ratcityreprobate]

09:06 PM on 01/02/2010

Agreed.

[WakeMeUpNow]

01:08 AM on 01/03/2010

Yup!

[totaldisbelief]

07:03 PM on 01/02/2010

AC over-flights would show everything moving on that chunk of ocean.
Fast interdiction vessels and aircraft could get to the scene fairly quickly.
Ships could be in escorted convoys and carry mercs with the necessary armaments.
Why is this still a problem?
A bit of intel would show the ring-leaders strongholds and mansions ...plob,bang and their gone.
Whose purposes are being served by keeping the pirates around?

[hulagirrrl]

09:57 PM on 01/02/2010

The US is stretched... Naval vessels have to protect no bid oil platforms in the middle east so that some corporate fat cats can get even fatter... never mind that they are probably all supporting the "little government for the people party" so, the oil profit goes to a few. The ships out there, well, those are consumer goods, and they just add the ransom to the final price that consumers pay at the register.

[notb observer]

12:17 AM on 01/03/2010

Back when NATO was dealing with the problem in the area formerly know as Yugoslavia, there was a blockade enforced to prevent weapons from being run from Italy. It was a smaller area and consumed a lot of NATO resources.
Having 24/7 maritime patrol of the Gulf of Aden and outlying vulnerable areas is a significant operation. There are already warships in the area, but effectively patrolling something of that size against small vessels in the very busy outlet to the oil of the Middle East and the Suez Canal is something that calls for much more resources.
There's also the question of who will pay for these expenses... These are commercial vessels being hijacked, so should the US or NATO or whoever foot the bill ?
My personal feeling is that it's way more effective to go after the perpetrators on their own turf. Use relatively inexpensive intel from drones to figure out where they are launching, organizing and planning, and then wipe them out while they sleep.

[totaldisbelief]

06:57 PM on 01/02/2010

if the Great Powers wanted this stopped it would have been stopped......follow the money.
If the governments of the World are this inept then God help us all.

[hulagirrrl]

09:59 PM on 01/02/2010

the ransom moneys collected is the only growth the region experiences, and people are able to build houses, schools and so forth. These pirates are spreading the wealth, hopefully not financing terror with the money.

[totalliberal]

06:37 AM on 01/03/2010

BS. Nice Robin Hood fantasy though.

[commonsense2]

05:16 PM on 01/02/2010

It is ridiculous that this country is messing with the entire world.

[JBS]

08:11 PM on 01/02/2010

It's not even a country. It's not had a government since 1991. Best example I know of how a Libertarian "government" works. It's not quite pure anarchy.

The pirates are criminal gangs living along the coast. None of the contesting claimants to government power in Somalia have control over them, although they seem to be growing in power enough to soon become one of the contestants.

I don't know any way to deal with them except to kill them. Capture the pirate boats on the high seas, shoot the crews and sink the boats.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

08:24 PM on 01/02/2010

***I don't know any way to deal with them except to kill them. Capture the pirate boats on the high seas, shoot the crews and sink the boats.***

It looks like that really is the only way

The other option is to stabilise and govern Somalia, which would be even more difficult.

An international task force should be sent to the Indian Ocean to escort merchant vessels and if necessary use force against the pirates.

[mathme]

09:13 PM on 01/02/2010

Or just bring back Q boats. Get some "freighters" and put some phalanx guns on them. It wouldn't take any heavy armament (relatively speaking) to sink little pirate boats.

[davidariley]

02:11 AM on 01/03/2010

sometimes when the entire world messes with you, you mess back.

[pokemon]

04:44 PM on 01/02/2010

I wonder if it is legal to start a company that chases pirates in international waters for these companies... Hmmmm the Black Water of the high seas..

[nightwind928]

04:47 PM on 01/02/2010

Sounds like a damn good idea to me Pokemon.

[AlligatorShuz]

04:53 PM on 01/02/2010

You should start a company that chase pirates! Foreign companies would pay well to get these leeches...

[nightwind928]

04:37 PM on 01/02/2010

It's come to the point in our world where some ragged, dirt floor Africans can hold the world hostage with a few rubber boats and a handful of Vietnam era A K 47's and R P G's. We have modern satellite technology, advanced weapons and several nations navies that steam around doing training exercises, shooting at barells in the middle of nowhere. Is it a stretch to think that the by putting a carrier group on a rotation basis with the collective navies and letting them run exercises at an actual trouble spot might be a good idea? Or would we run the risk of "offending" our Somali friends who's love for us knows no bounds? If this were the Suez Canal,The Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean Sea we would collectively find a way to get a handle on this problem very quickly. It seems that the so called lions of the "civilized world" have been de-clawed and the stinking rabble of the worlds social structure is dictating the terms we must all live within everywhere we go now days.

[pokemon]

04:35 PM on 01/02/2010

No. They did not take the vessels that had ARMED guards. When the prey shoots back they flee. Perhaps they just need to blow the little pirate boats into splinters a few times, like say every time one comes around.

[hulagirrrl]

10:06 PM on 01/02/2010

Commercial ships by international law are not allowed to be armed, so only if they have a armed protection escort.
The chicken are coming home to roost. The piracy has been going on for decades, and they are becoming more sophisticated with every ransom payment that in turn they get better vessels with and can venture out further into the ocean. We seem to forget our history so conveniently, but the ghosts are haunting us today as pirates.

[wndrwrthg]

04:20 PM on 01/02/2010

For the cost of one large capital ship, perhaps a dozen small escort vessels could be produced. Perhaps something in the range of a PT boat.

[chazzman]

04:12 PM on 01/02/2010

The answer is simple "Convoys." Convoys defeated the German u-boats and it most certaintly can defeat a bunch of straggly thieves/pirates. The shipping companies would save a lot of money by bunching their ships in a streaming line escorted by international navies or the U.N. Board any ship that resembles a mother ship. If not legitimate, take prisoners and sink the mother ship. A few times and the thieving pirates would soon find a new occupation. Sink, Swim, or Die. Their Choice.

[JBS]

08:14 PM on 01/02/2010

Convoys require convoy escorts. We haven't built the necessary vessels yet.

[nightwind928]

08:57 PM on 01/02/2010

Perhaps you haven't heard but we've had vessels for decades capable of convoy duty and interdiction. We call that branch of the military the Coast Guard. They do drug interdiction and coastal protection and have developed a pretty good system over the years through a lot of practice. They're very effective too. Their watercraft combined with their helicopters are designed specifically for interception. They, like all military services, have license to operate all over the world and in any situation. They don't just have small boats, they also have large ships with ice breaking capabilities as well as armed cutters.They, with assistance from the Air Force, are one big reason you don't see terrorism from the sea infiltrating American shores. Unless they're doing a rescue operation you don't hear much about them for a reason.They answer only to the Department of the Treasury when they answer to anybody at all. You won't ever see them in Somalia though,the weak kneed politicians would wet their pants if anybody even suggested the idea of using them there.

[LittleMittens]

02:54 PM on 01/02/2010

The US is notorious for not helping countries that have no resources we can exploit. If Iraq's bumper crop were brocholi, do you think we'd still be there?

[FirstBiteBooks]

03:17 PM on 01/02/2010

Yes, if all Americans were vegetarians.

[totaldisbelief]

06:46 PM on 01/02/2010

or if our cars ran on brocolli

[pokemon]

04:37 PM on 01/02/2010

What happens when the run out of that really old dung? Thats right, the go back to being just like they were 100 years ago.

So the faster we use the, ah, dung, the sooner we can leave. Everyone BUY AN SUV!

[LittleMittens]

02:52 PM on 01/02/2010

I would like to see Somalia nurtured into a first world nation, but that would mean the US giving up it's war business. I would also like to see countries that engage in massive cleansing of peoples brought under control as well. That's the direction we were supposed to go, but then the supreme court appointed some drunk born again Texan into office in 2000.

[totaldisbelief]

07:06 PM on 01/02/2010

we can't even "nurture" our own country back to what it was years ago.