Pirates capture ship with Lankans

Rasika Somarathna

Hijackings

In 2008, 111 attacks on ships were recorded which included 42 successful hijackings. The rate of attacks in January and February 2009 was about 10 times higher than during the same period in 2008.There have been almost daily attacks in March with 79 attacks taking place in which, 21 had been successful up to mid April.

At least seven Sri Lankans are believed to be on board a cargo ship hijacked by suspected Somali Pirates off the coast of the Gulf state of Oman on Saturday.

According to unconfirmed sources, the Chief Engineer of the ship and several high ranking officials on board are believed to be Sri Lankans.

A Foreign Ministry official confirming the incident, said they were trying to get in touch with the Lankan mission in Oman and other relevant international institutions to get a better grasp of the situation.

“If any Lankans are aboard, the Ministry will seek help to get them released,” he added.

Meanwhile, some relatives in Sri Lanka are said to have confirmed that their loved ones were aboard the ill-fated ship.

According to NATO, the German-owned cargo ship MV Charelle had been hijacked 60 nautical miles south of Sur on the Omani coast,the first recorded pirate attack in the area.

According to them, the captured ship was seeing heading southwest towards Somalia yesterday, reportedly with none of the crew being harmed. The latest incident came just hours after NATO Defence Ministers decided to deploy six ships off the coast off Somalia from July to enhance its anti-piracy operations.More than 100 such attacks has been reported in the waters off Somalia since the beginning of 2008.

However in all such attacks the crew and the ship has been returned unharmed by pirates after obtaining the ransom.

The Gulf of Aden is considered as one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. However, due to the activities of Somali pirates, the area too has become vulnerable, specially for cargo ships in recent times.