Pirates make big return to Gulf of Aden

Somali pirates took down two ships Tuesday. One of the attacks was the Gulf of Aden’s first hijacking in almost six months.

St. James Park, a British flagged chemical tanker, was attacked in the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor (IRTC), a causeway that is patrolled by an international naval force. It’s one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes with nearly 20,000 vessels passing through each year.

According to EU Naval Force spokesman Cdr. John Harbour, 26 crew members are aboard the vessel; the crew members hail from  Bulgaria, Georgia, India, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The ship sent a distress message only after it was hijacked, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center. That signal went to a rescue coordination center in Piraeus, Greece, where it was broadcast to the shipping industry. 

The ship, which was running from Spain to Thailand, was last reported to be heading to the northern coast of Somalia.

Just three hours after the St. James Park was hijacked, a Panamanian flagged ship with 19 crewmembers was hijacked off southern Somalia.

The IMB reports that there have been 214 pirate attacks near Somalia this year with 47 vessels hijacked.

Source: Associated Press