Pirates seize tanker bound for Louisiana
Source: Agencies |
April 6, 2010, Tuesday
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A SOUTH Korean navy destroyer is rushing toward a United States-bound supertanker believed to have been hijacked by Somali pirates with up to US$160 million of crude oil on board, officials said yesterday, the latest bold seizure in the Indian Ocean.
The tanker's highly volatile cargo prevents crews from carrying guns on board or even lighting cigarettes on deck. It was unclear what the warship would do once it reached the tanker since firing on the vessel would risk igniting the oil or leaking it into the sea.
The warship had been in the Gulf of Aden - one of the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes - on anti-piracy operations.
The 300,000-ton-class tanker was about 1,500 kilometers southeast of the gulf at the time of the apparent hijacking on Sunday, according to the Foreign Ministry. It has 24 crew - five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos.
The warship was ordered to move toward Somali waters where the South Korean-operated tanker was expected to be taken. The destroyer will need a little over a day to catch up to the tanker, ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said yesterday.
"We're doing this in cooperation with the ships of our allies," Kim said, declining further comment citing efforts to "ensure the safety of the crewmen and the success of possible negotiations."
The navy received a call on Sunday from the Samho Dream supertanker saying three pirates had boarded, and then there was no more contact, a ministry official said.
The vessel operator said yesterday it had lost contact with the ship. "We currently cannot reach the Samho Dream's captain," Cho Yong-woo of Busan, South Korea-based Samho Shipping, said. He said the ship was owned by a Singaporean company.
The tanker was sailing from Iraq to Louisiana.
The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said officials were coordinating with the Marshall Island-flagged ship's principal, the local manning agency and the Philippine embassies in Nairobi and Seoul "for the early resolution of the case."
The Samho Dream can carry approximately 260,000 tons of crude oil, worth about US$160 million at current prices.
Valero Energy Corp, an oil and gas refining company based in San Antonio, Texas, said it owns the cargo on the tanker, but could not confirm the hijacking.
The tanker's highly volatile cargo prevents crews from carrying guns on board or even lighting cigarettes on deck. It was unclear what the warship would do once it reached the tanker since firing on the vessel would risk igniting the oil or leaking it into the sea.
The warship had been in the Gulf of Aden - one of the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes - on anti-piracy operations.
The 300,000-ton-class tanker was about 1,500 kilometers southeast of the gulf at the time of the apparent hijacking on Sunday, according to the Foreign Ministry. It has 24 crew - five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos.
The warship was ordered to move toward Somali waters where the South Korean-operated tanker was expected to be taken. The destroyer will need a little over a day to catch up to the tanker, ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said yesterday.
"We're doing this in cooperation with the ships of our allies," Kim said, declining further comment citing efforts to "ensure the safety of the crewmen and the success of possible negotiations."
The navy received a call on Sunday from the Samho Dream supertanker saying three pirates had boarded, and then there was no more contact, a ministry official said.
The vessel operator said yesterday it had lost contact with the ship. "We currently cannot reach the Samho Dream's captain," Cho Yong-woo of Busan, South Korea-based Samho Shipping, said. He said the ship was owned by a Singaporean company.
The tanker was sailing from Iraq to Louisiana.
The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said officials were coordinating with the Marshall Island-flagged ship's principal, the local manning agency and the Philippine embassies in Nairobi and Seoul "for the early resolution of the case."
The Samho Dream can carry approximately 260,000 tons of crude oil, worth about US$160 million at current prices.
Valero Energy Corp, an oil and gas refining company based in San Antonio, Texas, said it owns the cargo on the tanker, but could not confirm the hijacking.
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