20111228
Press TV
Somali pirates have hijacked an Italian-owned tanker with 18 crew members on board off the coast of Oman.

Italian shipping company Marnavi released a statement saying the tanker named Enrico Ievoli came under attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The crew included six Italians, five Ukrainians and seven Indians.

The ship, carrying a cargo of caustic soda, was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to the Mediterranean Sea.

The company says it has notified Italian authorities and is waiting for more information.

Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made the waters among the most dangerous in the world.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing more shipping costs.