Pirates have seized a Greek-flagged oil tanker near the Seychelles, more than 1,100km off the coast of Somalia, Greece’s coastguard said on Monday.
The 300,294 deadweight-tonne Maran Centaurus was sailing from Kuwait to the Gulf of Mexico with a crew of 28 when it was seized early on Sunday.
“About nine armed pirates attacked the tanker and seized it, 700 miles off the Somali coast, near the Seychelles,” said a coastguard official who requested anonymity.
The official said there were nine Greeks, two Ukrainians, one Romanian and 16 Filipinos on board the tanker.
Maran Tankers Management, the Greek managing company, said the ship was now heading toward the Somali coast.
“We only know that the crew is well,” said a company official who did not want to be identified.
A Greek navy frigate, taking part in a EU naval operation against piracy in the region, was shadowing the tanker, the Greek defense ministry said.
Heavily armed gangs from Somalia have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships using the strategic shipping lanes that link Europe to Asia.
Somali pirates warned on Monday they would kill the crew of a Chinese bulk carrier if China’s navy attempted to wrest control of the vessel from them.
In a statement read to reporters in Mogadishu over the phone, one of the pirates holding the 25 crew members of the coal ship De Xin Hai, seized in mid-October, said they had heard the Chinese navy was planning a rescue mission.
“We are telling them not to gamble with the lives of the Chinese teenagers in our hands. Honestly, we will kill if we are attacked,” pirate Nur said, reading the statement from on board the ship.
The UN Security Council on Monday extended by a year its authorization for countries to use military force against pirates off Somalia. Anti-piracy operations have been conducted by the EU, NATO and individual states.
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