The small Indian cargo vessel was seized only 14 nautical miles off Bosasso, the main port in Somalia’s northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
“It was used as a mothership in an unsuccessful attack on VLCC tanker Elephant,” said Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme. A VLCC is a “very large crude carrier” such as the Saudi-owned Sirius Star, which Somali pirates held for two months after capturing it in November 2008 with two million barrels of crude oil.
The latest capture brings to at least 15 the number of ships held by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Published 13 July 2009, 16:49 IST