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Somali pirates hijack Yemeni cargo ship

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-25 15:32

NAIROBI -- Somali pirates have hijacked a Yemeni cargo ship in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, a regional maritime official said on Tuesday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) , however, did not say when the MV Amani was captured and crew members aboard.

"A Yemeni cargo ship MV Amani has been hijacked by sea pirates in the Gulf of Aden," Mwangura told Xinhua without divulging more details.

The Somali pirates have caused mayhem this year in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The hijacked ships included a Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with 100 million US dollars worth of oil, the biggest hijacking in history.

The tanker, the Sirius Star, belongs to Saudi Arabia's state- owned Vela International and is carrying 2 million barrels of oil. It was hijacked November 15, about 833 kilometers off Somalia, along with 25 crew members from Britain, Poland, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.

There are currently 15 warships in the region, including four NATO vessels, and ships from India, Malaysia and Russia.

The navies of India, Russia, Britain and Germany have all battled pirate vessels in the last 14 days alone.