Reports of a second Somalia ship hijacking
- 00:02:03
- ITN
Reports of a second Somalia ship hijacking
Somali pirates who hijacked an oil tanker with 25 crew on board, including two Britons, have opened negotiations. Vela International Marine Ltd, the Dubai-based marine company that operates the Saudi-owned Sirius Star, said it was working to secure the release of the supertanker and her crew. A spokesman for the company said: "All 25 crew members are reported to be safe and the vessel is fully laden. "A Vela response team has been established and is working to ensure the safe release of the crew members and the vessel." The Foreign Office has confirmed that one of the British nationals on board the ship is the tanker's chief engineer and the other holds the rank of second officer. The US Navy has confirmed that the vessel - carrying around two million barrels of oil, more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports - has anchored off the coast of Somalia near the city of Harardera. The hijack, which was the first successful attack so far out at sea, raises fears that international patrols nearer the coast and in the Gulf of Aden will not be enough to protect vital trade routes as pirate gangs become ever more audacious. A spokesman for the Royal Navy said he could not say if British servicemen were involved in any attempts to rescue the vessel. The Sirius Star was seized 520 miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, in a shipping zone where Somali raiders strike almost daily. The ship had been heading for the US via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, skirting the continent instead of heading through the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal. Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet, said: "This is unprecedented. It's the largest ship that we've seen pirated. It's three times the size of an aircraft carrier." There were no reports of damage to the ship, Lt Christensen said. He declined to say if the US Navy was considering taking action to rescue the tanker, saying: "We are evaluating the situation." Chaos in Somalia, where Islamist forces are fighting a Western-backed government, has spawned a wave of piracy. Shipowners have paid out millions of dollars in ransoms. Well over 60 vessels have been hijacked this year, driving up shipping insurance premiums and pushing some vessels to take longer routes between Asia and Europe than pass through the Suez Canal, increasing the cost of traded goods.
ITN | November 18, 2008
