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EU Naval Force: Somali pirates hijack 2 ships

23 March 2010 19:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Somali pirates hijacked two ships on Tuesday, including a vessel carrying fertilizer, in a series of attacks that shows the pirates are moving further east, officials said, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.
The hijacking of the Malta-flagged MV Frigia took place more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) out at sea and represents a substantial increase in the pirates’ range, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force. The attack took place more than 400 miles (640 kilometers) outside where the naval force operates.
The second hijacking, of the MV Talca, took place about 120 miles (190 kilometers) off the coast of Oman, said Harbour.
It was 60 miles from the easternmost limits of the 1.5 million square mile (3.9 million square kilometer) area patrolled by around 35 warships from the European Union Naval Force, NATO, the U.S. and other nations.
The Talca, a refrigerated cargo vessel, had 23 Sri Lankans, 1 Filipino and Syrian onboard.
The hijacking of the Frigia is potentially more complicated. It is unclear if its cargo of fertilizer is nitrate-based, which could be used for bomb-making in Somalia. The country’s beleaguered government is battling an Islamic insurgency.
Pirates in the past have hijacked ships carrying weapons and fuel, but they have never turned over potentially dangerous cargo to militants. Naval warships generally monitor such hijacked ships very closely and it is difficult to unload cargo without proper port facilities. Using fertilizer to make bombs also requires some expertise and the Somali Islamists have not used such bombs before.
Ayhan Ugurlubay, a spokesman for the Turkey-based Karya shipping company, said officials received a distress signal from the Frigia early Tuesday but have had no contact with the ship since then.
The ship was carrying fertilizer from Israel and was heading for Thailand, he said. The ship had 19 Turks and two Ukrainians on board.
"We carried out all the required procedures. The ship sailed through the dangerous zone in a convoy, escorted by (Turkish navy frigates) the Gediz and Gelibolu," he told Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency.
"The incident occurred one and a half days after it left the naval convoy ... It is the first time that a ship has been kidnapped so far away," he said.
Experts say piracy will continue to be a problem until an effective government is established on Somalia’s lawless shores. Somalia has not had a functioning government for 19 years.