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Pirates seize cargo ship off Somalia

SEOUL, South Korea — Gunmen have hijacked a cargo ship with 23 crew off the coast of Somalia, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday, as Somali pirates freed another vessel after being paid a ransom.

In the latest in a series of hijackings, a 20,000-ton ship owned by a Japanese shipping company and registered in Panama was seized Saturday night in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The crew of the Chemstar Venus consisted of five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos and the ship was carrying unidentified chemicals, the statement said.

Also Sunday, Somali pirates released an earlier-seized cargo vessel with 18 Indian crew members after being paid a ransom, Indian officials said.

All the crew members on the Japanese-owned Stolt Valor were safe, Abdul Gani Sarang, chairman of the National Union of Seafarers of India, told the NDTV news channel. He did not say who had paid the ransom or how much it was.

Seema Goel, wife of Stolt Valor captain Prabhat Goel, told the Press Trust of India news agency that the ship was expected to arrive in Mumbai in the next four or five days.

The condition of the Chemstar Venus crew was not immediately known. South Korean officials said they had no information on whether the gunmen were seeking a ransom.

The Foreign Ministry said it will cooperate with Japan’s government and the shipping company to win the early release of the sailors. The name of the Japanese company was not immediately available.

Somalia, which has had no functioning government since 1991, is the world’s top piracy hotspot. It is located along the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and is one of the world’s busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year.

On Friday, a Chinese fishing vessel carrying 24 Asian sailors was hijacked by suspected Somali pirates, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency. Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. said Sunday that three Filipino seamen were among the abducted sailors and all the crewmen were unharmed.

Somali pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speed boats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

In October, 22 sailors — eight South Koreans and 14 citizens of Myanmar — were released following a month of captivity after their South Korean shipping company paid a ransom to Somali pirates.

South Korea is considering dispatching navy vessels to join warships from several other countries, including India, in patrolling the waters off Somalia.

A NATO flotilla of seven vessels is also in the Gulf of Aden to help the U.S. 5th Fleet in anti-piracy patrols and to escort cargo vessels. The 5th Fleet said it has repelled about two dozen pirate attacks since Aug 22.

Nevertheless, pirate attacks have surged in the past week, with at least five successful hijackings since Nov. 7, according to news reports and figures from the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

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Associated Press writers Gavin Rabinowitz in New Delhi and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.