Fresh Somali Pirate attacks-24 Indians taken as hostages

Fresh Somali Pirate attacks-24 Indians taken as hostages

Pirates attacked two ships in the Indian Ocean and succeeded in hijacking one while the other managed to get away. At least 24 Indians were taken hostage by Somali pirates who hijacked an Indian-managed and Panamanian-flagged ship near Seychelles today, officials said.

 The two ships MV Jolly Rosso, an Italian flagged Ro-Ro Cargo ship, MV Al Khaliq, a Panama flagged bulk carrier were attacked.

Jolly Rosso was attacked, 400 nautical miles east of Mombasa, Kenya, by two small skiffs, but she managed to evade the attack and proceed on her voyage. The 32,000-tonne Italian vessel Jolly Rosso, also came under fire from pirates north of Seychelles, but the hijack bid was unsuccessful.

Al Khaliq the second ship that was attacked was not so fortunate. The vessel was attacked 180 nautical miles west of the Seychelles at almost the same time as Jolly Rosso. In its last contact the ship had reported that two pirates were on board trying to access the accommodation. The 22,000-tonne bulk carrier, MV Al Khaliq, was seized by the pirates in waters off Somalia, Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting centre of maritime watchdog International Maritime Bureau (IMB), told PTI here.The EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft has confirmed that “the hijack of MV Al Khaliq, 6 pirates on board and two attack skiffs in tow. The mother skiff has already been taken on board with a crane”.

Mombasa-bound Panamanian-flagged Merchant Vessel Al Khaliq was captured in Seychelles off the Gulf of Aden. Of the 24 Indians, the Captain and the chief officer and two senior members are from Mumbai. However the crew members have not been compiled as yet, said an official from Directorate general of Shipping.

“No contact has been established yet. We have informed the families of the crew members... All crew members have been with us for years and we’ll make sure they are released,” said S.C. Sehgal, managing director of SNP Shipping Services Private Limited, manager of the Al Khaliq.

"There were 26 crew on board , 24 of whom are Indian and two Burmese," a spokeswoman for NATO's anti-piracy mission in London has been quoted by AFP as saying. NATO's closest ship in the Somali basin was eight hours away from the Al Khaliq when it was seized. The EU's anti-piracy naval force has said in a statement that the incident took place 180 nautical miles west of Seychelles

The incident comes less than a week after Singapore-flagged MV Kota Wajir with 21 crew members on board, two of them Indians, was hijacked.

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