18 indians' life at stake in hijacked cargo ship off somalia coast

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18 indian in hijacked cagrgo ship off somalia coast

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somalia coast once again in news for its sea pirates, who are constantly hijacking cargo ships , this time they hijacked a ship in which there are 18 Indian crew members.

Hijackers have seized a cargo ship chartered by chemical tanker shipping group Stolt-Nielsen off the Somali coast, a senior company officer said on Wednesday.

Andrew Pickering, managing director for Asia-Pacific, said the 25,000-tonne Stolt Valor, on its way to Mumbai, India, with a cargo of base oils and chemicals, had just passed through the Suez canal when it was hijacked.

Pickering said he did not know if the Stolt Valor's crew of 22 -- 18 Indians, two Filipinos, one Bangladeshi and one Russian -- were still on the ship.

"Our understanding is that the crew is safe," he told by phone from Singapore. "The whereabouts of the ship have been identified. It's in Somalia."

Gunmen from Somalia have hijacked more than 30 ships so far this year, making the strategic shipping lanes in the busy Gulf of Aden the most dangerous in the world.

On Tuesday, 30 French commandos stormed a luxury yacht in a pre-dawn assault to rescue two French tourists who were being held for ransom by heavily-armed Somali pirates.

The Hong Kong-registered vessel is owned by Central Marine Company in Hiroshima, Japan, and managed by Fleet Management in Hong Kong.

Nobody at Fleet Management was immediately available to comment.

Pickering said the ship was insured by the owner's Protection and Indemnity Club, England Mutual.

source: reuters