WORLD> Africa
Ship with 16 crew members hijacked in Gulf of Aden
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-12 10:15

NAIROBI - Somali pirates have seized a tugboat in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden in the latest attacks in the north of the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia, a regional maritime official confirmed on Saturday.

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said the vessel was seized early Saturday with 16 crew members on board.

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"We have not established where the tugboat was sailing to and from. We have also not established the nationalities of the crew members aboard the boat," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.

The spate of hijackings comes despite an increased naval presence in the waters off the horn of Africa.

Pirates are now venturing further east into the Indian Ocean to avoid heavily protected shipping lanes.

The tugboat's seizure came as pirates made another attempt to hijack a ship on Friday night. The NATO Shipping Centre said that the Motor Vessel Ryu Gyong, a bulk carrier sailing under the North Korean flag, was attacked late on Thursday east of Mukalla, Yemen.

"The vessel witnessed a pirate mother ship launch two skiffs," the shipping centre said on its website. "The skiffs and mother ship followed the Ryu Gyong for approximately two nautical miles, firing automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade."

The ship is one of six which have been unsuccessfully attacked by pirates since the beginning of April, according to reports from the NATO centre and the Piracy Reporting Centre of the International Maritime Bureau.

One is the Maersk Alabama, the American vessel which was initially seized by pirates but is now back under the control of its crew.

The NATO centre said the Ryu Gyong had been threatened four times off the east coast of Somalia between March 20 and 24. It had been approached by pirates twice and was attacked twice.

The center's website on Friday listed 18 vessels, including dhows and a yacht, which are currently under the control of pirates.

Most are being held on the east coast of Somalia. The majority have been seized since early March, but some were hijacked as long ago as last August.