Chinese ship attacked by pirates in Gulf of Aden

[December 17, 2008]  BEIJING (AP) -- Pirates boarded a Chinese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia but failed to hijack the vessel Wednesday, thanks to quick action by a naval force patrolling the area, a maritime official said.

The attack occurred a day after Beijing said it was considering sending warships to the area to help battle piracy.

The assault occurred in the same area where a Malaysian-owned tugboat and a Turkish vessel were seized Tuesday, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the Chinese ship sent a distress message to the bureau after it was chased by pirates in speedboats in the Gulf of Aden.

Nine pirates armed with guns managed to board the ship but the 30 crew members locked themselves in their accommodation -- which includes their sleeping rooms, mess rooms and recreation area -- to prevent the bandits from entering, he said.

China's official Xinhua News Agency said the Zhenhua 4 was attacked at 12:43 p.m. Beijing time (0443 GMT). It belonged to China Communications Construction Co., and was registered in the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, it said.

Choong said the bureau quickly sought help from a multicoalition naval force, which dispatched two helicopters and a warship to the area.

"Two helicopters arrived at the scene first and helped deter the hijacking. They fired at the pirates, forcing them to flee the ship. Nobody was injured" in the nearly five-hour high sea drama, he said.

"The Chinese ship is very fortunate to have escaped. This is a rare case where pirates have successfully boarded the ship but failed to hijack it," he added.

Somali pirates have hijacked over 40 vessels off Somalia's coastline this year. Many of the seizures took place in the Gulf of Aden that lies between Somalia and Yemen -- one of the world's busiest waterways with about 20,000 ships sailing through each year.

Wednesday's attempt is the latest in an uptick of attacks by Somali pirates on Chinese vessels. In November, a Chinese fishing vessel was attacked while off the coast of Kenya.

Spurred by widespread poverty in their homeland, which hasn't had a functioning government for nearly two decades, Somali pirates are evading an international naval flotilla to intercept huge tankers, freighters and other ships to hold for ransom.

Including Wednesday's violence, Choong said there have so far been 109 attacks this year off the coast of Somalia, with 42 hijackings. Fourteen vessels are still with pirates with a total of 240 crew members as hostages.

He said since Friday, there were also three other reported attacks in the vicinity on a Singapore oil tanker, Italian cargo ship and a Greek vessel, but all managed to escape after intervention by the multicoalition force.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of Somalia.

"The area is just too wide to patrol. Hopefully with the U.N. resolution, there will be more firm action to stop this menace," Choong said.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told the Security Council that China was considering sending warships to the Gulf of Aden, where they would join ships from the U.S., Russia, Denmark, Italy and other countries.

"China is seriously considering sending naval ships to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the Somali coast for escorting operations in the near future," He said, according to a transcript of his comments posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

A naval researcher, Professor Li Jie, told the state-run China Daily newspaper Wednesday that dispatching of China's navy would increase its prominence on the world stage.

"Apart from fighting pirates, another key goal is to register the presence of the Chinese navy," he said.

China's navy is mainly intended for coastal defense and has little experience operating away from its home ports.

[Associated Press; HENRY SANDERSON]

Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to the report.

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