SOMALI PIRATES TAKE A 20,000 MT EUROPEAN CONTAINER VESSEL

A Greek Navy commando aims his weapon at a boat of suspected pirates who were detained, off the Somali coast April 1, 2009. Somali pirates have seized a 20,000 tonne German container vessel in their latest attack on the Indian Ocean’s busy commercial shipping lanes, a regional maritime group said today.

Somali pirates have seized a 20,000 tonne German container vessel in their latest attack on the Indian Ocean’s busy commercial shipping lanes, a regional maritime group said today.
Heavily armed gangs from the lawless Horn of Africa nation hijacked dozens of vessels there and in the strategic Gulf of Aden last year, taking hundreds of sailors hostage and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.

Somali pirates have also seized a British-owned cargo ship and a Taiwanese ship, maritime officials say, after capturing three other vessels over the weekend. The UK-owned Malaspina Castle was boarded in the Gulf of Aden, while the Taiwanese ship was seized near the Seychelles, according to reports. A French yacht, a Yemeni tugboat and a German ship were also captured in the pirate-plagued waterway at the weekend.

The region is heavily patrolled by a growing international naval coalition.