NAIROBI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-owned cargo ship with 24 crew members aboard in the world's most dangerous waters of Somalia, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said the 4,500-ton Panamanian-flagged Iceberg 1, owned by Iceberg International Ltd, was carrying general mechanical equipment from Port of Aden to UAE.

"The Icerberg I crew is composed of Yemeni, Pinoy, Pakistani, Ghanaian, Indian and Sudanese," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.

He said the seizure took place about 10 nautical miles from the port of Aden.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.