Hijacked Saudi tanker anchors off Somalia

BOSASSO, Tuesday

A Saudi supertanker hijacked by pirates with its $100 million oil cargo was anchoring off Somalia today, the US navy said.

“We can confirm the ship is anchoring off the Somali coast at Haradheere,” said Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet. Haradheere is situated roughly in the centre of Somalia’s coastline.

“All 25 crew members on board are believed to be safe,” Vela International, the shipping arm of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, said in an earlier statement. “At this time, Vela is awaiting further contact from the pirates in control of the vessel.”

The Sirius Star is the biggest vessel ever hijacked. It was seized in the Indian Ocean off east Africa on Sunday in the boldest attack by pirates operating from lawless Somalia.

The pirates have driven up insurance costs, forced some ships to go round South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, secured millions of dollars in ransoms and now carried out one of the most spectacular strikes in maritime history.

The capture of the Star 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya’s Mombasa port, and way beyond the Gulf of Aden where most attacks have taken place this year, is the culmination of several years’ increasing activity.

The seizure was carried out despite an international naval response, including from the NATO alliance and European Union, to protect one of the world’s busiest shipping areas.

US, French and Russian warships are also off Somalia.

The US navy’s Christensen said he did not anticipate any US ships being sent to the region but that the navy was monitoring the situation closely.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said his country would throw its weight behind a European-led initiative to step up security in shipping lanes off Africa’s east coast.

“This is an initiative that we are going to join and so are many other countries of the Red Sea,” he told a news conference in Athens. “This outrageous act by the pirates, I think, will only reinforce the resolve of the countries of the Red Sea and internationally to fight piracy.”

At least one analyst said that, given the lawless nature of the region, negotiators would have no other option but to discuss a huge cash ransom for the return of the vessel.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers’ Association, said he thought a hijacked Nigerian tug was a “mother-ship” for the Nov. 15 seizure.

The fully-loaded supertanker was probably low in the water and therefore easy to board, he said.

Normally, the increasingly well-armed and sophisticated Somali pirates use speedboats and satellite phones to coordinate attacks, with the mother-ship as a base for their operations.

The seizure of the Sirius, which is three times the size of an aircraft carrier, follows another high-profile strike earlier this year by the pirates when they captured a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks and other military equipment.

They are still holding that vessel and about a dozen others, with more than 200 crew members hostage. (Reuters)