Pirates hijacked two more vessels, an Iranian bulk carrier and a
Japanese-operated tanker, on Thursday off the coast of Somalia in
some of the world's most dangerous waters, the International
Maritime Bureau said.
That came after a Malaysian tanker carrying 39 crew and a cargo of
palm oil was hijacked in the same area on Wednesday.
"Both ships were attacked and hijacked this morning," said Noel
Chong, head of the International Maritime Bureau piracy reporting
centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The Japanese tanker had 19 crew on board, but no Japanese
nationals, he said.
An official at Japan's Transport Ministry said that vessel was a
Panama-registered chemical tanker.
He said its operating company was not Japanese, but that it
subcontracted some management responsibility to a Japanese firm.
The official did not name either company.
Piracy is rife off Somalia, which has been mired in anarchy since
warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.
Last week, Somali pirates hijacked two other ships - a Thai
cargo ship, the MV Thor Star, and a Nigerian tug boat, the MT
Yenegoa Ocean.
Local gunmen are also holding a Japanese-managed bulk vessel, the
MV Stella Maris, that was hijacked on July 20.
Abdikadir Musa Yusuf, assistant fisheries minister in northern
Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, said local officials had
been in touch with the crew of the Malaysian oil tanker when it was
seized in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.
"Our radar crews could hear them screaming for help but we had no
power to fight the pirates," he told Reuters. "We hear the tanker
is now heading towards Eyl, the pirates' base."
