02 Oct 2009

After a month of calm, Somali pirates hijack a Spanish fishing vessel with 36 crew members in the Indian Ocean, the EU anti-piracy mission says.

During early hours of Friday, the 35-meter Spanish tuna fishing vessel, Alakrana, was hijacked some 360 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia, European Union's Operation Atalanta said in a statement on Friday.

A Press TV correspondent quoted the statement as saying that the pirates are heading the Alakrana towards Somali waters.

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program, who monitors maritime activities in the region also confirmed the hijacking, saying the crew consists of 16 Spaniards, eight Indonesians, four Ghanaians, three Senegalese, two from the Ivory Coast, two from Madagascar and one from the Seychelles.

Piracy along the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, is common place.

Dozens of multinational warships are currently patrolling the waters under a UN mandate to deter pirate attacks but the sea gangs sometimes carry out attacks right under the watchful eyes of international fleets.


presstv