South Korean ship hijacked off Somali coast

[September 10, 2008]  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Pirates hijacked a South Korean bulk carrier with 21 crew off Somalia's coast Wednesday but were thwarted in a separate attempt to seize a Greek ship, a maritime official said.

The South Korean vessel is the 11th to be hijacked since July 20 off Somalia, which is the world's top piracy hotspot. The surge in attacks has prompted the U.S. Naval Central Command to establish a security corridor patrolled by an international coalition of warships.

Noel Choong of the piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau said the bureau was informed that the South Korean ship with 21 members aboard was seized in the Gulf of Aden, but he could not provide details.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the ship had eight South Koreans and "numerous" other foreign crew members. Yonhap, which did not cite its source, said the sailors were all safe.

In the other incident Wednesday, pirates in speed boats chased a Greek bulk carrier and fired at it with machine guns, Choong said. The crew called the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, which alerted the multinational force.

The force sent a warship and a helicopter that scared away the pirates, Choong said.

The latest incidents bring the number of attacks off Somalia's coast to 50 this year, most of which occurred in the Gulf of Aden, Choong added.

The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year. But it has become notorious for an increasing number of attacks, apparently by Somali pirates.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Pirates there are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues and typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

[Associated Press]

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