Pirates seized a tanker and attacked a UN food ship that escaped, officials said on Saturday, the latest in a series of incidents off Somalia that have sparked worldwide concern.
Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, said that pirates boarded a Greek chemical tanker on Friday.
“Pirates attacked the ship flying a Panama flag using boats,” he said, adding the tanker was hijacked in the notorious Gulf of Aden.
Greece’s merchant marine ministry however denied the tanker was Greek, saying it had been informed that a Panamanian-flagged ship, carrying 17 Georgians and three Spaniards, had been boarded by pirates.
“We cannot completely rule out Greek involvement in the company that owns the ship, but for us it is not the case of a Greek vessel,” the ministry’s spokesman said.
On Thursday, pirates tried to board a World Food Programme (WFP) chartered freighter, MV Al Salaam, after it had offloaded food aid in the Somali capital Mogadishu, but it escaped, the agency said.
“The ship outran the attackers [and] was then escorted by the Canadian frigate — Ville de Quebec — until it arrived in Mombasa on Friday,” WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said in Nairobi.
Such attacks have surged even with US warships and navies in the area.
Somali authorities, currently fighting Islamist rebels in mainly Mogadishu, have conceded failure to fight pirates, and urged the international community to help.
On Thursday, NATO defense ministers agreed to send seven war ships this month to help combat piracy off Somalia.
The alliance said the vessels, including several frigates, would help escort WFP food shipments and patrol the largely lawless waters off Somalia.
WFP ships carry between 30,000 tonnes and 35,000 tonnes of aid into Somalia each month. Its vessels are currently under Canadian escort, but that service is due to come to an end next Monday and the operation could halt if no escort is available.
Aid agencies say at least 2.6 million people in Somalia are facing acute shortages and warn that the figure could climb to 3.2 million by year-end.
The IMB said 69 ships have been attacked off Somalia since Jan. 27.
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