Somali pirates hijack Danish merchant vessel - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Somali pirates hijack Danish merchant vessel

Somali pirates have hijacked a Danish merchant ship off the Horn of Africa, several news outlets reported Tuesday, as a French warship watched but did nothing because it was forbidden to enter Somali waters.

The Danica White, a 22-year-old, 200-foot general cargo ship registered in the Danish port of Nakskov, was seized late Friday or early Saturday, said a spokesman for the ship’s owner, shipping company H. Folmer & Co. Jorgen Folmer said he didn’t know if the crew members, all Danes, were safe, or any other details about their condition.

Folmer said the hijacking took place in view of a French Navy ship, which, he said, could not come within the Somali territorial boundaries to help. The French frigate Enseige de Vaisseau Jacobet is one of the ships operating with Combined Task Force 150, which has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The French Navy took over command of Combined Task Force 150 in April, relieving the British Royal Navy, which had previously held the rotating command.

The lawless coasts of Somalia have become notorious for pirates who use small, high-speed craft; the Global-Positioning System; and heavy weapons to harass civilian shipping. Pirates took over a U.N.-chartered cargo ship earlier this year, and in 2006, the Navy destroyer Winston S. Churchill captured a pirate vessel.