Two European-owned tankers have been hijacked off the Somali coast, prompting an alert for other vessels to watch for a pick-up in pirate activity, the EU’s anti-piracy naval mission said on Thursday.
The Maritime Security Center run by the EU naval force said the 9,000-tonne Greek-owned, Panamanian-flagged MV Nipayia was seized on Wednesday with its crew of 19.
A Greek merchant marine ministry spokesman said the chemical tanker’s Russian captain and 18 Filipino crew members were in good health and that the boat’s owner, Lotus Shipping, had begun negotiations with the pirates.
PHOTO: EPA
The incident was followed early on Thursday with the capture of the 23,000-tonne Norwegian-owned and Bahamian-registered MV Bow-Asir with an unspecified number of crew.
Salhus Shipping, which owns the tanker, said in a statement from Norway that the crew numbered 27 members of different nationalities and that they had contacted the company after 16 to 18 pirates came aboard with automatic weapons.
“We have no reports of any injuries,” company director Per Hansen said. “We are doing our utmost to ensure the safety of the crew and have established communication lines with naval forces, insurance companies, flag state and charterer.”
Meanwhile, authorities in the Seychelles said three sailors from the Indian Ocean archipelago had been held hostage by Somali pirates since their catamaran was hijacked late lat month.
“Contact has been established with the kidnappers and discussions to secure the release of the hostages are ongoing. The objective of the negotiating team is for the safe return of all three hostages,” Ernest Quatre, Seychelles police chief, said in a statement.
Ransom-hunting Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the region last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, the International Maritime Bureau said.
The number and success rate of pirate attacks has declined slightly since the start of the year because of unfavourable sea conditions and an increased foreign naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.
Greece, which is home to the biggest commercial fleet in the world, called on the EU “to play a more active role” in cracking down on piracy after the latest two boats were captured.
Merchant Marine Minister Anastasis Papaligouras said the EU should “expand the rules of engagement and the area patrolled by the European naval force.”
He also called on companies “to inform with total accuracy and in good time the competent services” about the movements of boats.
“The pirates are not the only ones with weapons, the international community and Greece have them as well,” Papaligouras said.
In order to “to protect the present and future of our shipping” all means of intervention would be exhausted,” he said.
The rules of engagement of the European Atlanta flotilla charged with protecting shipping off Somalia meant it could use “all means including force.”
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to