Pirates Seize Egyptian Ship
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Friday, September 05, 2008
An Egyptian ship has been seized by pirates on Thursday off Somali coast, officials said.
Shabelle's reporter Abdiqani Hassan in Puntland says a delegation of officials from the semi-autonomous northern region has gone to Eyl port to investigate.
This hijacking comes after hours the pirates have hijacked a French ship aboard by two French nationals.
The French foreign ministry said two French nationals were aboard the yacht that was seized in the Gulf of Aden, north of the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
The Venezuela-registered Carre d'as -- a sixteen-metre leisure boat -- was hijacked late Tuesday, a ministry source in Paris told AFP, but it was not immediately clear how many people were aboard the vessel.
In April, French commandos made six arrests in a helicopter raid against pirates after they freed a French yacht's crew.
The seas off Somalia have some of the highest rates of piracy in the world.
It is not clear if there were any other people on board the sailing boat.
Along the coast, attacks against fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts have surged over recent months and foreigners, who can be exchanged for large ransoms, are frequent targets.
Puntland's Ports Minister Ahmed Saed Ali Nur said the authorities had not made contact with the pirates.
In June, the UN Security Council voted to allow countries to send warships into Somalia's waters to tackle the pirates.
France has troops in nearby Djibouti and also participates in a multi-national naval force that patrols this part of the Indian Ocean.
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The six pirates seized by the French military in April were handed over to French justice officials to be tried.