Pirates have hijacked a Panamanian-flagged carrier in waters off Somalia, taking 26 crew hostage, almost all of them Indian, a NATO spokeswoman says.
"The MV Al Khaliq, a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier, has been hijacked early this morning off Somalia," said a spokeswoman for NATO's anti-piracy mission in London on Thursday.
"There were 26 crew on board, 24 of whom are Indian and two Burmese."A second carrier, the 32,000-tonne Italian vessel Jolly Rosso, also came under fire from pirates north of the Seychelles, she said, but "managed to evade the pirates at 18 knots."
NATO's closest ship in the Somali basin was eight hours away from the Al Khaliq when it was seized."We are working with coalition partners" from the European Union, the US and other independent missions in the Gulf of Aden, the spokeswoman added.
Incidents off the coast of lawless Somalia rose to 47 during the first nine months of 2009 from 12 in the same period a year ago, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Wednesday.In the Gulf of Aden there were 100 attacks compared to 51.
Since last year a flotilla of foreign warships has been patrolling the piracy-plagued Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest maritime trade routes on the globe.The Kuala Lumpur-based watchdog said that globally, 114 vessels were boarded and 34 hijacked during the first nine months of 2009. A total of 661 crew members were taken hostage, six were killed and eight are missing.
