SOMALI PIRATES operating 800 miles off the coast have captured a Greek-flagged tanker carrying oil from Saudi Arabia to the US.
The 332m-long Maran Centaurus, thought to be one of the largest vessels taken by pirates so far, was hijacked on Sunday with 28 crew on board and cargo worth at least $20 million (€13 million).
The attack highlights the growing effectiveness of Somalia’s sea gangs, who continue to terrorise the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes, despite the presence of dozens of international warships.
The tanker was on its way from Jeddah to New Orleans. The EU naval force said the 300,000-tonne vessel was now being steered towards Somalia’s east coast. Maran Tankers Management, the ship’s owner, said the crew, comprising Greeks, Filipinos, Ukrainians and Romanians, was unharmed.
The capture of the crude oil carrier comes a year after the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned tanker that was also bound for the US, was captured 450 nautical miles south-east of the Kenyan coast. The pirates have since become even more daring, firing rocket-propelled grenades at a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker 1,000 miles off the Somali coast during an unsuccessful attack three weeks ago.
Tankers are prized because of the high value of the cargo. The Sirius Star, which was carrying two million barrels of oil, was released by pirates when a £2 million (€2.2 million) ransom was dropped by parachute from a light aircraft. That hijacking pushed the international community into action, with navies from North America, Europe and Asia deploying frigates to the region.
Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said the pirates had “struck the jackpot” with the latest capture.
Fully loaded oil tankers sit low in the water, which can make them relatively easy to board, and they are usually defenceless.
“Unlike with some other ships, tankers can’t have guns on the ship, due to the dangerous nature of the cargo,” said Mr Mwangura.
Reports suggest that nine pirates operating from a high-speed skiff carried out the hijacking, which occurred 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles. – (Guardian service)