Pirates have seized a merchant ship in the Red Sea and have taken it south toward Somalian waters in the first successful hijacking in the region since 2012, maritime officials said yesterday.
The vessel, identified as the MV Marzooqah, sent a distress signal on Saturday evening in the Red Sea and was then turned back to the Gulf of Aden, Seafarers Union of Kenya secretary-general Andrew Mwangura said.
The number of attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia dropped sharply last year, largely because of an international naval effort. However, maritime experts have said the problem will remain as long as gangs operating out of Somalia are not disbanded on land.
Relative stability in Somalia in the past two years after 20 years of chaos and war has raised hopes that it could lead to a more permanent solution to a problem that has driven up shipping insurance rates, but it has yet to solve the issue.
“Now we are trying to follow this ship to try to find out ... which pirate group is holding them and what are their demands,” said Mwangura, based in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
He said the vessel was crewed by Indians, Egyptians and Syrians and boarded by a gang of eight or nine pirates, and that about five gunmen were still on board. The ship had also been attacked in 2011, but had escaped that time, he said.
Mwangura did not say how may crew were on the ship.
The EU Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) said it had information that a merchant vessel had been attacked in the Red Sea, beyond its area of operation which lies further south, and that the ship was now under the control of pirates.
EU NAVFOR spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Jacqueline Sherriff said the force would be using its maritime patrol aircraft to investigate and would use its naval assets once the ship entered its operational area.
The EU NAVFOR region of operations includes the southern tip of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean areas.
There were 176 confirmed piracy attacks in the region in 2011 and 36 in 2012.
Sherriff said the number fell to seven last year and no ships were successfully seized.
However, she said that the naval force had long warned sailors that the threat remained.
“Because the conditions in Somalia have not changed significantly or to any great extent ... we have been saying there is no room for complacency,” she said.
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