23 Filipino seafarers seized off Somalia

NAIROBI/MANILA—(UPDATE 3) Somali pirates have hijacked a Philippine chemical tanker carrying 23 Filipino crew members, officials said Tuesday, bringing to 89 the total number of Filipino seafarers being held captive in the lawless African nation.

Stolt Strength was heading to Asia when it was hijacked Monday in the Gulf of Aden by pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

In Manila, the Department of Foreign Affairs the tanker has 23 Filipino crew when seized nearly two months after Somali pirates hijacked Stolt Valor, a chemical tanker on its way to India.

But Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Association that monitors piracy said the ship was carrying 21 crew only.

"The ship has a 21-member crew. All are Filipino," said Mwangura, adding that the Philippine-flagged carrier is managed by Victoria Ship Management in Manila and is on a long-term charter to Stolt-Nielsen.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. said the Filipinos "are reportedly unharmed."

He said Manila was informed about the incident by the Philippine embassy in Nairobi and the ship operator.

Choong said there was an attempted attack the same day on a refrigerated cargo ship in eastern Somalia, but the vessel managed to escape with evasive maneuvering. The ship flies a Saudi flag but is operated out of Britain.

The bureau has issued an urgent warning to ships to take extra measures to deter pirates even while sailing in a corridor of the gulf patrolled by a multinational naval force.

"The corridor is protected, but safe passage is not 100 percent guaranteed. The patrol boats cannot be everywhere at the same time. The ship master must maintain a strict radar watch for pirates," Choong said.

Piracy off Somalia has made the sea lane linking the Middle East Gulf and Asia to Europe and beyond via the Suez Canal one of the most dangerous in the world.

Hijackers took a ship managed by Danish company Clipper Group with 13 crew members last week.

The International Maritime Bureau says 199 incidents of piracy or attempted piracy were reported worldwide from January to September this year, of which 63 were in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast.

Twelve vessels remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crew, Choong said.

NATO has sent three ships to the Gulf of Aden -- one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- to help the US Navy in anti-piracy patrols and to escort cargo vessels.

The European Union has said at least four warships backed by aircraft will begin policing the dangerous waters in December. The EU flotilla will eventually take over the NATO patrols.

Despite the increased security, attacks have continued unabated off Somalia, which is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has had no functioning government since 1991.

Meanwhile, an Indian warship on Tuesday successfully defended a merchant vessel from being hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden and escorted the ship to safety, a statement from the navy said.

Merchant vessel "Jag Arnav," a 38,000 ton bulk carrier owned by India's Great Eastern Shipping Co Ltd, had crossed the Suez Canal and was 60 nautical miles east of Aden when attacked by pirates, the statement said.

An Indian warship patrolling the area detected an alarm by the crew of the merchant vessel and dispatched "an armed helicopter with marine commandos... to intervene and prevent" a hijacking, it said.

The statement did not say how many crew were on board the "Jag Arnav," the nationality of the pirates or the contents of the vessel.

New Delhi had last month announced it was deploying a ship to the region following the hijack of another merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest but most pirate-infested shipping lanes in the world. Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net with Agence France-Presse, Reuters Associated Press, November 11, 2008