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Pirate Legend
Finally, another ECOTERRA update! This is a long one, with some pretty hard hitting language directed at NAVFOR.
[imgleft]http://australia.to/2010/images/stories/0001news/piracy_zone.jpg[/imgleft]
You can find the complete story here :
http://australia.to/2010/index.php?...tus-of-abducted-vessels-in-somalia&Itemid=223
[imgleft]http://australia.to/2010/images/stories/0001news/piracy_zone.jpg[/imgleft]
Status of abducted vessels and crews in Somalia and the Indian Ocean - 29 June 2010
Today, 29. June 2010, 12h00 UTC, still at least 22 foreign vessels plus one barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 406 seafarers - including an elderly British yachting couple - plus the lorry drivers from Somaliland suffer to be released. Request the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor from ECOTERRA Intl. for background info and see the map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA.
LATEST:
TANKER WITH TOXIC CHEMICAL SEA-JACKED IN PROTECTED GULF OF ADEN CORRIDOR
In the early hours of 28 June 2010, pirates took control of the MV Golden Blessing approximately 90 nautical miles off the northern Somali coast. On notification from the Master of the MV Golden Blessing that pirates were on board, the EU NAVFOR German warship Schleswig-Holstein immediately launched their helicopter and reported sighting suspected pirates on board the vessel.
The MV Golden Blessing, a Singapore flagged tanker with deadweight of 14,445 tonnes, carries a cargo of ethylen glycol (wrongly reported as glycoethelen). Ethylene glycol is most commonly found as the primary ingredient of automobile and hydraulic antifreeze brake fluids. It is a highly toxic, colorless, odorless, almost nonvolatile liquid with a sweet taste. Ethylene glycol poisoning is caused by the ingestion of ethylene glycol. Following ingestion the symptoms of poisoning follow a three step progression starting with intoxication and vomiting, before causing metabolic acidosis, cardiovascular dysfunction, and finally acute kidney failure. The major cause of toxicity is not the ethylene glycol itself but its metabolites. The major metabolites causing toxicity are glycolic acid and oxalic acid.
The MV Golden Blessing has a crew of 19 Chinese; there are no reports of injuries. The vessel is under pirate control and is now moving towards the Somali Coast.
SITUATION:
YOU ARE PERSISTENTLY BEING LIED TO WITH IMPUNITY:
The Lie: The navies and their mainstream media claim that they achieved a decline in piracy.
The Reality: Never before in history the cases of piracy have been around the Horn of Africa so numerous than in these times and after the specific multi-national naval operations were launched at the end of 2008; with a thereafter continuously expanding force and naval presence never seen before - even not during WWII. But in the same time piracy has increased to an all-time high with increased violence and escalating armed encounters.
The Lie: The navies have to blow small, captured "piracy" skiffs out of the water, because they would endanger shipping.
The Reality: The EU NAVFOR even leaves big vessels like the MV RIM adrift, if as in this case it is convenient to NOT inspect the ship abandoned by the crew after they killed all their captors under the watch of the EU, though credible reports stated that the vessel had been an illegal weapons transporter for Yemen.
The Lie: The navies act under valid UN Security Council Resolutions.
The Reality: The navies have according to international and Somali national law no right whatsoever to enter the 200nm territorial waters of Somalia. The UN Security Council Resolutions, to which repeatedly the navies refer, are explicitly stating that they would be only valid and applicable with the consent of the Somali Government, i.e. the Somali parliament, which never has been given, while a fictive letter of former Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf was never produced and a letter signed "on behalf of the Somali Government" by Mauretanian former UNSRSG Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is legally nil and void.
The Lie: EU NAVFOR has an agreement with the Somali government concerning the Somali Waters and the fight against piracy.
The Reality: A paper signed without the knowledge of the Somali parliament in a clandestine meeting by the French Ambassadress to Kenya, Ms Elisabeth Barbier - for the EU - and by one Noor Hasan Hussein (aka Nuur Xasan Xuseen), who was at the time a Prime Minister in the cabinet of former Somali TFG President Abdullahi Yussuf, is legally nil and void and does not give the navies of the European states any permission in Somali waters. Nuur Cadde, as he is widely known, obviously received as reward for such favour and assumable high treason, and after he was chased out of his PM chair and cabinet, the post of Somali ambassador to Italy - the former colonial power, who still serves as ill advised lead-country for the European Union and which is the only statelet of the newly empowered European Union, which still channels directly and without EU consent money to Italy's friends and warlords within the changing governing alliances of the Somali quagmire.
In addition the fake framework is misused by states like Norway, who are not even a member of the European Union, but dare to send commando units under EU mandate in mid-night raids into natural harbours of northern Somalia and commit outright murder by killing innocent fishermen from Somalia and Yemen.
In Addition: Nobody gave the EU NAVFOR operation ATALANTA or any European entity the right to monitor fishing in the Somali waters. Though it might have been welcomed if the navies would assist the Somali government and people in the fight against illegal foreign fishing fleets, given the fact that not a single of all those illegally fishing vessels, whose presence had been established, was repulsed by the navies, the "monitoring of fishing" is mere economic spying on the natural resources of Somalia and - as many Somalis claim - the scouting for and protection of illegal foreign fishing ventures.
The Lie: Somalia has no 200nm Somali Waters
The Reality: Since 1972 the international community had respected Somali Law No. 37, which similar to the recognized nation states of Benin, Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Liberia and Peru, declared 200nm territorial waters with all the respective rights and duties.
Since 1989, and Somalia was one of the first 40 signatories who also endorsed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Somalia has - congruent to its territorial waters - an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nm, with all the rights and protection mechanisms the Common Law of the Sea provides to all coastal states. Somalia had declared and never given up these rights, but had to suffer from much illegal activity by foreign interests, which caused the African Union (AU / then the OAU) at the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM, Maputo, 1998) to decry specifically the constant violation of the Somali rights in Somalia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and H.E. Ambassador (Egypt) Ahmed Hagag as Assistant Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) declared that everybody must respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia.
Since 2009 Somalia has also a Continental Shelf Zone of 350 nm, based on international law and Somalia's claim documented and handed in by Somalia on 17 April 2009 to the UN and the International Seabed Authority before the deadline of 13 May 2009. The establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is the right of all coastal States under international law.
The Lie: There is no illegal fishing in Somali Waters.
The Reality: Illegal fishing continues, but it has like always seasonal peaks and licences still continue to be issued illegally to foreign vessels despite a moratorium by the TFG government since April 2009. The annual loss in the Somali waters is estimated at around 300mioUS$.
The problem of illegal and overfishing is not only a Somali one: The annual consequential costs due to over-fishing of the oceans have reached 50 Billion US-Dollar, as calculated by the WorldBank and FAO. While losses at Wall Street due to the recent credit crunch have so far been calculated to stand at only 1,5 Billionen Dollar, allowing financial institutions and bankers to be "rescued" by a 700 Billion Dollar rescue plan - using taxpayer's money -, NOTHING is done to rescue the oceans!
The Lie: The international community is helping Somalia and the Somalis
The Reality: Hardly any of the funds pledged with top-spin public relations campaigns through the mainstream-media have ever even been set-up to be released. This is not only a Somalia problem and these global lies have now even been criticized by the G20 summit. If some funds were released for Somalia they were for widely criminal WFP operations (now under UN investigations), weapons deliveries and training of fighters, who actually could train their trainers. Even EU NAVFOR escorts for deliveries by ship of only weapons, other military hardware or supplies solely to the AMISOM troops are listed by the navies as escorts of "humanitarian aid". While the bandwagon NGOs are kept quiet with well-funded "studies" paid for by the intelligence groups, real help on the ground has declined to an all time low since the beginning of the civil war.
Somalia is earmarked to be kept at the lowest end of global misery, which is characterized by unnecessary death: Every hour throughout the world, over 1600 people, most of them children, die from hunger and poverty-related diseases and millions of others struggle to survive without life's basic necessities of clean water, food, shelter, education and health care, while the current global military budget is costing approximately US$160 million dollars every hour, with a minimum of around 15mioUS$ being spent by the naval armada every day around the Horn of Africa. While cynics proclaim that such would be necessary to slow the growth of human overpopulation, it has been proven over and over again that it is only a distribution problem and those who with military or economic powers maintain such inequality are guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.
ECOTERRA Intl. states: " What many people seem to not understand or for specific reasons refuse to understand is that more than half of the Somali dominion is based on the Somali seas and thus vital to the survival of the Somali people. Somalia has since 1972 as Territorial Waters (TW) and - overlaying the same area - since1989 as Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) an area of 825,052 square km of Somali Waters and an additional 55,895 square km as Somali continental shelf zone (CSZ), forming together the marine and maritime dominion.
The sum of the total internal land area of Somalia with its 637,657 square km and the marine area together give a total of 1,462,709 square km of recognized total Somali area, which with the additional CSZ is expanding to the present Somali sphere of 1,518,604 square km.
The sovereignty over the Somali sphere extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil, which is now extended to 350nm off the coast.
All creation in the Somali Sphere of 1,518,604 square kilometres of earth - be it on the 637,657 sqkm of land (42%) or the 880,947 sqkm of the waters (58%) - has a right to life and must be respected.
These figures and this outline hopefully make it also clear to anybody what importance the marine waters have for the Somali people and the Somali nation and why many try to get their hands on this territory and its natural resources, thereby trying to push the indigenous Somali interests back and condemning the Somali people to abhorrent poverty and war unless they would give up at least parts of their inherited wealth.
While diversity provides stability, the strife for dominance by an outside aggressor within any given sphere leads ultimately to the annihilation of the aggressor."
TRENDS:
In short, the trends concerning the piracy phenomenon around the Horn of Africa are as follows:
# Though at present still the highest number of vessels ever is held at the Somali coast and the UN--lead Somalia-process has completely failed and has collapsed, the international attention concerning piracy has steadily declined and the suffering of hostage-crews as well as of the Somali people in general has reached a new all time high with little or no aid coming forward.
# Increased use of sea-jacked smaller fishing vessels (often from Yemen) or dhows (often from India) to launch piracy attacks. Approaches / attacks then conducted by 2-3 small open boats with outboard engines and with 3-5 armed persons each in a concerted attack.
# Increased use of firearms on all sides. The shoot-to-kill policy adopted by several navies has led to an increased number of direct fire exchanges. The use of armed personnel and military on fishing vessels has lead to an overall increase of aggression and violence.Taking the attacked vessel and crew immediately under direct fire during a piracy attack was in earlier years unheard of, but is now common. Likewise the the treatment of crews from countries, which have killed or arrested Somalis is declining.
# Targeting larger cargo / oil / gas / chemical tankers
# Piracy-related incidents have increased in the Gulf of Aden (GOA) and far off the east coast of Somalia since the engagement of EU NAVFOR, NATO, CTFs and warships of non-aligned nations.
# Negotiations to quickly free vessels are now often hampered by restrictive orders, legal changes and ill-conceived advise given to often ignorant ship-owners.
# Except for improved defensive measures on merchant ships none of the other responses like the deployment of navies, killing or arresting Somalis as well as destroying boats and weapons, talks with proxy-leaders, training of so-called governmental forces etc. had the slightest positive impact to improve the security of maritime traffic in innocent passage and none of these measures did curb Somalia-based piracy around the Horn of Africa.
# Despite the presence of the naval armada and plenty of of evidence concerning violations of the Somali EEZ of 200nm no foreign-flagged vessels has been intercepted intercepted which had been suspected or proven to carry arms as cargo and in not one single case e.g. the EUNAVFOR operation Atalanta - though they claim that they would "monitor fishing" - has stopped a single foreign-flagged vessel from committing the crime of illegal fishing in the Somali waters, while all foreign fishing licences had been declared nil and void already in April 2008 by the Somali government and no new ones have been issued since.
# While billions have been and are spent to finance self-serving naval exercises, those of the EUNAVOR Atalanta now extended to 2012, and pointless international conferences or are dumped into the coffers of the United Nations incl. their agencies like the IMO, no aid - whatsoever - has been set free to improve the situation for the people along the Somali coasts, which is the only solution to truly safeguard against piracy.
SOLUTIONS PENDING:
a) Imposing strictest control on all vessels entering the Somali waters, starting from the 350nm continental shelf zone and especially on foreign fishing vessels and waste-dumping ships. Compulsory installation and monitoring of all IOTC authorized fishing vessels with Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) as well as gear- and catch-control monitoring via satellite-transmitted NV-CCTV-real-time observation day and night.
b) Development of coastal regions along the two Ocean coasts.
c) Strengthening of local institutions in regional self-governance.
d) All vessels, including naval ships must stay outside the EEZ, i.e the 200nm zone of the Somali Indian Ocean coast and outside the 50%-part of the waters of the Gulf of Aden, which belongs to Somalia, unless a permitted and secured approach to the three legitimate harbours Berbera, Bosasso and Mogadishu has been received by legitimate authorities of the Somali government. In the Somali half of the Gulf of Aden as well as in the 350nm continental shelf zone of the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia foreign research vessels have to abstain from any activity.
e) Independent monitoring of the Somali waters with respect to illegal fishing and waste dumping must finally be funded and implemented.
HOSTAGE CASES UNDER NEGOTIATIONS:
Genuine members of families of the abducted seafarers can call +254-733-633-733 for further details or send an e-mail in any language to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Sea-jacked British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 60 and 58, were abducted from their 38-ft yacht S/Y LYNN RIVAL, seized October 22, 2009 en route to Tanzania, and are still held in Somalia. The yacht was recovered by the crew of UK naval vessel Waveknight, after they witnessed the transfer of the Chandlers to commandeered MV KOTA WAJAR. The yacht was brought back to England. The elderly couple is now held on land close to Harardheere, sometimes separated for fear of a commando attack . The case is turning more and more ugly with pirates becoming brutal, politicians ignorant and the financially incapable family intimidated by several sidelines, whose money-guided approach is undermining bids by local elders, human rights groups and the Somali Diaspora to get the innocent couple free. Some humanitarian efforts, however, are now under way and Somali elders, respected leaders and the Somali Diaspora have renewed their demand for an unconditional release. Latest reports from the ground say that the couple is now treated better, though they often are kept separated for fear of a military rescue attempt. Since the health of both elderly people at the beginning of the year was reportedly deteriorating rapidly relief and medicine has been sent by a humanitarian organization and was received by the couple. Repeatedly rumours were spread concerning attacks, wounding or killing one of the hostages and also about a release managed by the TFG, but they became so far not true. With former British Premier Gordon Brown gone, maybe some more rational and humanitarian minded politicians will now be at the helm in the UK, who do not abandon their citizen and will extend help to solve the appalling case, though also the new government in the UK made it clear that no ransom would be paid by the British government. However, the direct family approach seems to have had some not so successful advisers, because an attempt to free the Chandlers mid June 2010 didn't work out.
MV SOCOTRA 1: Seized December 25. 2009. The vessel carrying a food cargo for a Yemeni businessman and bound for Socotra Archipelago was captured in the Gulf of Aden after it left Alshahir port in the eastern province of Hadramout. 6 crew members of Yemeni nationality were aboard. Latest information said the ship was commandeered onto the high seas between Oman and Pakistan, possibly in another piracy or smuggling mission. VESSEL STILL MISSING.
SOMALILAND LORRIES: Seized February 25, 2010. Seven lorries and at least 9 persons from their driver-crews of Isaak ethnicity from Somaliland were captured by a gang of sea-shifta from Garacad in order to press their comrades free from Somaliland jails. No financial demands have been made. According to sources close to the pirates, the trucks are still being kept in small town near the pirate lair of Garacad called Kulub.
FV AL-SHURA: Seized after February 20, 2010 and most likely on 25th February with one of 9 sailors being killed by Somali pirate-attackers. Present location of Yemeni vessel and crew unknown. Navies have apparently not yet located the dhow. Allegedly the pirates now left the vessel and the dhow was returned to owner, but independent confirmation is still awaited from Yemen.
BB AL-NISR-AL-SAUDI: Seized on March 01, 2010. The relatively small bunker barge Al Nisr Al Saudi was empty when it was taken pirated in the Gulf of Aden and in the vicinity of Aden port. The captain of the ship is Greek and the nationality of the 13 other crew is Sri Lankan. All crew is believed to be safe. The 5,136 ton ship was not registered with maritime authorities and was outside the designated route that naval warships patrol. Communications between the pirates and the owner have been established. Contrary to many other vessels the families of the hostage-seafarers are very well taken care of, though the negotiations concerning the release of the vessel and crew are apparently not forthcoming. The vessel moved from Garacad and is currently held at Kulub.
FV SAKOBA: Seized after February 26, 2010, when the vessel was in Malindi / Kenya for bunkers, and according to the owner on 03 March, when the vessel was around Pemba Island in Tanzania. From there she went to her most southerly recorded point on 04 March 2010 at position 7º26.48' S, 42º29.88' E, which is between Zansibar and Mafia Island in Tanzania waters. At 07h04 UTC on 08 March 2010 Kenya-flagged FV SAKOBA was in position 00°52'N-046°56'E. The fishing vessel was used as a pirate platform and most likely also involved in the sea-jacking of UBT OCEAN.
FV SAKOBA is a fishing vessel, presently flying Kenyan flag, which has become infamous in the fish-poaching world since many years and its clandestine operations are very well known to several environmental organizations. It has a murky track record.
In 2005 FV SAKOBA, with a crew of Kenyan-Spaniards and Kenyans was involved in a serious incident, whereby a Kenyan seaman got seriously injured off the Kenyan coast. It is therefore assumed that this vessel was not necessarily sea-jacked but also operated in co-operation with the Somali sea-shifta. To be "hijacked" is a nice cover for a crooked crew to operate in criminal operations, be it illegal fishing, smuggling, trafficking or assisting in the hijacking of other vessels. In the clandestine world of vessels sailing under Flag of Convenience (FOC), FV SAKOBA is a special case. FV SAKOBA arrived late afternoon on 10 March 2010 at the Central Somali coast near Harardheere, where it is anchored now at position 4º36.88'N-48º05.64'E.
The 16 men crew consists of one Spaniard of Portuguese origin as captain, the chief engineer from Poland, ten Kenyans, two Senegalese and one sailor each from Namibia and Cape Verde. The Spanish owner of the vessel holds 99.9% of the shares in the Kenyan registered company , which exports the fish to Europe via his Spanish company. The Spanish owner is now at Nairobi in Kenya with the Spanish Ambassador and had reportedly contact with the Somali group holding the vessel. Families of the Kenyan seafarers demonstrated in Mombasa to seek support and information from the Spanish shipowner and the Kenyan government. The legal procession to hand a petition to the Kenya Maritime Authority was broken up by Kenya police, who detained one human rights activist. Meanwhile some of the Kenyan sailors on board were allowed to call home and reported shortages of clean water, food (except fish) and ship-fuel. The Spanish shipowner left Kenya again for Spain without having been able yet to reach an agreement with the pirates for the release. Reports of mistreatment of crew and the captain being held on land are worrisome. In addition the Spanish owner seems to run away from his responsibilities, closing the office in Mombasa and having paid to the Kenyan families of the seafarers only 50.- US Dollars each, while several month of salary are outstanding.
MT UBT OCEAN: seized on March 05, 2010. The Marshall Islands-flagged, Norwegian owned oil-product tanker with 21 crew from Burma was captured between the Seychelles and Tanzania in the Indian Ocean while heading towards Dar es Salaam at position 04°34'S-048°09'E at 06h39 UTC (0939 LT). It was said that FV SAKOBA was somehow involved in the sea-jacking of the Norwegian tanker. However, later the position of the attack was said to have been 09°12'S-044°20'E, which seems not to be plausible. The 120 m long 9,224dwt tanker belongs to shipowners Brovigtank and is managed by Singapore-based Nautictank. The tanker had been commandeered to the coast near Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast, where vessel and crew are held. Negotiation for the release are said to be not forthcoming.
MV FRIGIA: Seized March 22, 2010. The Turkish owned, Malta-flagged 35,244-dwt bulker with Israeli-owned cargo of phosphate was hijacked off the Indian coast before midnight at Posn: 11:41.53N - 066:05.38E - 670nm east of Socotra Island and around 900nm from Somalia. At 0137 UTC a distress signal was sent. The vessel has a crew of 21 sailors - 19 Turks and two Ukrainians. Concerning the negotiations it is reported that not even proper contact has been established. The vessel moved from Garacad and is currently held at Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.
MV ICEBERG I: Seized March 29, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged Ro-Ro vessel MV ICEBERG 1 with her 24 multinational crew members (from India, Pakistan, Yemen, Ghana, Sudan and one Filipino) was sea-jacked just 10nm outside Aden Port, Gulf of Aden. The vessel was mostly held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, while negotiations having not yet achieved a solution. The USS McFaul intercepted and identified the ship on 19th May 2010, despite the pirates having painted over her name and re-named the ship SEA EXPRESS, while the vessel was on a presumed piracy mission on the high-seas. Since about 50 pirates on the ship made any rescue operation impossible without endangering the 24 crew, the naval ship followed the commandeered vessel's movements for the next 36 hours, until it began to sail back towards the coast of Somalia. It has transpired that the shipping company Azal Shipping based in Dubai refuses to pay any ransom and the ship is apparently not insured. The sailors have no more food, water or medicine on board. While all the seafarers are starving, a few of them already are getting sick. The crew requested humanitarian intervention.
FV JIH-CHUN TSAI 68 (日春財68號) : Seized March 31, 2010. The Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessel was attacked together with sister-ship Jui Man Fa (瑞滿發), which managed to escape. The vessels are operating out of the Seychelles. The crew of Jih-chun Tsai No. 68 consists of 14 sailors - a Taiwanese captain along with two Chinese and 11 Indonesian seamen. The vessel is now held at Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and attempted negotiations face serious communication problems.
FV NN - IRANIAN FISHING VESSEL: Seized before April 02, 2010. The gang of sea-shifta, which had captured the Indian dhow MSV KRISHNA JYOT and ran out of fuel near Socotra, seized the Iranian fishing vessel and set the dhow free with her crew unharmed while going off with the Iranian fishing vessel. While the vessel had at first not come to any shore in Somalia and was believed to be used as piracy platform, some sources reported the vessel earlier from Kulub.
VLCC SAMHO DREAM: Seized April 02, 2010. The Marshall Islands-registered "Samho Dream", a 300,000t oil tanker owned by South Korea's Samho Shipping, was seized by three Somali pirates in waters some 1,500 km south-east of the Gulf of Aden at around 16:10 Seoul time (0710 GMT).There are a total of 24 crew members on board, including five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos. The 319,000 dwt very large crude carrier was on its way from Iraq to Louisiana of the United States.The Samho Dream, which was built in 2002, is carrying crude oil that could be worth as much as $170 million at current oil prices. The vessel had been commandeered to Hobyo at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast and is now anchored 4.6nm off the beach. The South Korean government ordered their destroyer Chungmugong Yi Sun-shin out of the Somali waters and back to its working routine in the Gulf of Aden, but still there are two warships keeping a watch close by, staging mock attacks and caused tension on board, which made the pirates to issue a statement that they would blow up the oil-tanker if the harassment would not stop and no ransom would be paid. soon. Though negotiations with the owners are ongoing no conclusion has been reached. The vessel was moved from Hobyo, where she was held since her capture until the advancement of Al-Shabaab spearheaded Hizb-ul-Islam groups, to Garacad.
MV RAK AFRIKANA: Seized April 11, 2010, the general cargo vessel (IMO 8200553) with a deadweight of 7,561 tonnes (5992t gross) was captured at 06h32 approximately 280 nautical miles west of Seychelles and 480nm off Somalia in position 04:45S - 051:00E. The captured vessel flies a flag of convenience from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has as registered owner RAK AFRICANA SHIPPING LTD based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and an offices in the Seychelles, while industry sources say the beneficial owner is from China. AL SINDBAD SHIPPING & MARINE from Ras al Khaimah (UAE) serves as manager. While China's Seafarers Union, based on an outdated ITF database, first spoke of 23 Chinese nationals as crew, the shipowner says there are 26 seamen from India, Pakistan and Tanzania on board. The actual crew-list has not been provided yet and the crew is not covered by an ITF agreement, but it could be established that the crew comprises of 11 Indians, including the captain, the second and third officer, as well as 10 Tanzanians and 5 Pakistanis. The vessel stopped briefly due to engine problems - around 280 nautical miles (520 kilometres) west of the Seychelles - but was then commandeered to Somalia and is held now off Ceel Huur not far from Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean Coast.
YEMENI FISHING VESSELS: Two Yemeni fishing vessels were seized by presumed Somali sea-gangs during the week 09th to 16th April in the Gulf of Aden. The Yemeni coastguard did not specify the name of the vessels and only reported in one case the crew as comprising of three Yemeni nationals.
THAI FISHING FLEET: Seized April 18, 2010 with a total crew of 77 sailors, of which 12 are Thai and the others of different nationalities, the Thailand-flagged vessels operating out of Djibouti were fishing illegal in the Indian Ocean off Minicoy Island in the fishing grounds of the Maldives. All three vessels were then commandeered towards the Somali coast by a group of in total around 15 Somalis.
FV PRANTALAY 11 with a crew of 26
FV PRANTALAY 12 with a crew of 25
FV PRANTALAY 14 with a crew of 26
None of these vessels is registered and authorized by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean.
The fleet is now held off the coast at Kulub near Garacad at the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. The captors already threatened to use one of the hunter-vessels of the group as a piracy-launch, but at present all three vessels are held at the coast, while negotiations have not been forthcoming.
MV VOC DAISY: Seized in the morning of April 21, 2010, the Panama-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier of 47,183 dead weight tonnes, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, 190 nautical miles East South East of Salalah, Oman. The bulker was registered with the Maritime Security Centre Horn Of Africa (MSCHOA) and heading west from Ruwais, U.A.E, making for the eastern rendezvous point of the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), for onward transit through the Suez Canal. She was 280 miles from the IRTC when she was sea-jacked. The vessel is owned by Middleburg Properties Ltd, Liberia, and operated by the Greek company Samartzis Maritime Enterprises. The 21 men all-Filipino crew was able to raise the alarm before the four armed pirates, carrying three AK47s and one RPG, stormed onboard and cut their lines of communication. The crew is, however, said to be all right, given the circumstances. The vessel is now held off Kulub near Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.
MV AL ASSA: Seized before May 04, 2010. The Yemeni cargo ship with nine crew members on board was captured by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen's defense ministry confirmed. The vessel was captured en route from the south-eastern Yemeni port of Mukalla to Aden and is now being held at a port in northern Somalia, the Yemeni coast guards stated.
Tai Yuan 227: Seized on May 06, 2010 in an area north off the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles as it headed for the Maldives, the Taiwanese fishing boat has a crew of 28 (9 Chinese, 3 Vietnamese, 3 Filipinos, 7 Kenyans and 2 from Mozambique). Taiwan's foreign ministry confirmed that the vessel had been seized after the Taipei Rescue Command Centre reported the incident to have taken place in approximate position 0105N-06750E. The ministry added that contact was made on Friday with the pirates who made an unspecified ransom demand, while the vessel is heading towards the Somali coast. The vessel has no authorization by the Indian Ocean Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean, which, however, is partly explained by the fact that China is opposed to Taiwan as flag state. Due to the inaction of the ship-owner and the Taiwan government to free the vessel, it is at present used again as launch for further piracy attacks.
MT MARIDA MARGUERITE: Seized May 08, 2010, around120nm south of the Omani port of Salalah in the protected shipping corridor, the German owner-managed, US-owner-registered chemical tanker of 13.273 dwt has a crew of 22 seamen, including 19 Indians, two Bangladeshi and one Ukrainian. The vessel is flying a flag of convenience (FOC) from the Marshall Islands. The is held at the north-eastern Somali Indian Ocean coast near Garacad.
MV PANEGA: Seized late afternoon of May 11, 2010 in the Gulf of Aden in the proximity of the internationally protected shipping corridor and approximately 100 nautical miles east of Aden (Yemen), the small Bulgarian-flagged chemical products tanker of 5,848 tonnes was on route from the Red Sea to India. The crew consists of 15 Bulgarians. The vessel was already earmarked for the scrapyard and it is presumed that the P&I insurer The West of England Shipowners shall maybe be taken for a ride. The vessel is now held at the north-eastern Somali coast in the vicinity of Garacad.
MV ELENI P: Seized in the morning of May 12, 2010, the Greek-owned, Liberia-flagged 72,100 dwt bulker was sea-jacked around 380 nm south-east of Salalah (Oman) in position 15 55N 060 50E. The 23 crew comprises of 19 Filipinos, 2 Greek and one Ukrainian sailor, who are said to be unharmed. Reports say that under other names the vessel had been attacked already before (as SEAHORSE on April 09, 2009). The vessel is held near Garacad at the north-eastern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
MT GOLDEN BLESSING: Seized in the morning between 07h00 and 08h00 local time of June 28, 2010, the Singapore flagged, Chinese-managed chemical tanker with a cargo of highly toxic ethylene glycol was plying the waters inside the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor (IRTC) when the 19 men strong all Chinese crew was overwhelmed at position Latitude: 13 23.7N Longitude: 049 58E and taken hostage in the view of a helicopter from a nearby naval vessel. The vessel is commandeered to the Somali Indian Ocean coast.
THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO A WARNING TO VESSELS TRAVERSING THE SOMALI BASIN TO BE AWARE OF LARGER VESSELS BEING USED AS LAUNCHING PAD AND DECOY FOR PIRACY ATTACKS .
All vessels navigating in the Indian Ocean are advised to consider keeping East of 60E when routing North/South and to consider routing East of 60E and South of 10S when proceeding to and from ports in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.
The Indian Government has issued a NOTICE on 30th March 2010: All Indian-flagged motorized sailing vessels are - with immediate effect - no longer permitted to ply the waters south and west of a line joining Salalah (Oman) and Malé (Maldives).
NOTIFICATION BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
- Issued by The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai.
DIRECTIONS 31. March 2010
The Directorate has issued directions prohibiting the trading of mechanized sailing vessels south and west of the line joining Salalah and Male, with immediate effect.
NON-MARITIME HOSTAGE CASES:
Dennis
CASES NOT COMPLETELY CLOSED:
MS INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER and S/Y SERENITY - presumed sunken, but wrecks not secured.
BARGE NN - an unnamed barge (allegedly with chemical waste) is held at Kulule (near Bendar-Beyla) since mid March 2009. Ownership and circumstances could not yet be clarified. In the meantime local people have developed some ailments. Community awareness campaign was carried out, barge is provisionally secured. The case needs an immediate solution.
S/Y JOUPLA (aka JUMLA or YUMLA ?) - a mysterious yacht, said to hail from the Seychelles or South-Africa, with three Africans on board was kept since a long time near Dinoowda on the Indian Ocean coast of North-Eastern Somalia. Rumors say the yacht was involved in the sea-jacking of MV NAVIOS APOLLON as well as MV JAMES PARK and was then sighted near Hobyo. The yacht, initially used to smuggle drugs, is reported now to have been wrecked during the latest spree and sunk near Dinoowda Qorioweyn. The three African men reportedly still stay in Garacad as hostages, being forced to train sea-shifta.
FV INTMAS 6 [aka FV TAWARIQ 2]: Was missing since March 2009. FV INTMAS 6 (sometimes named FV TAWARIQ 2) with a crew of around 30 seamen went missing around the time when FV TAWARIQ 1 was arrested by Tanzanian authorities with the help of the South African coastguard for illegal fishing. Families of four Kenyan crew members, who were hired by a Chinese shipping agent in Kenya, are desperate to know the fate of their relatives, while the shipping agent is now held also in the Tanzanian prisons in connection with the arrest of FV TAWARIQ 1. When FV TAWARIQ 1 was seized also FV TAWARIQ 2, 3 and 4 fled from the Western Indian Ocean. TAWARIQ 4 is now anchored in Singapore, TAWARIQ 3 caught fire off Mauritius, which has developed into a hub for fish-poachers, and TAWARIQ 2 (INTMAS 6) and her multi-national crew comprised of Taiwanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Kenyans was missing for nearly a year. When FV WIN FAR 161 was captured by Somalis, who had followed the vessel close to the Seychelles , the other WIN FAR vessels were called back to Taiwan. The Taiwanese real shipowner of FV TAWARIQ 1, who is said to also have had his part in FV WIN FAR 161, which recently was released from Somalia with two dead sailors on board - is wanted by the authorities too. INTMAS 6 also fled from Tanzania after the arrest of FV TAWARIQ 1 - first to the Seychelles and then to Malaysia, from where now and finally all four Kenyan crew members returned to Kenya. While the vessel was reportedly sailing from Malaysia to Bangkok, her present whereabouts are unknown while investigations are ongoing.
MT AGIA BARBARA: INDIAN AND SYRIAN CREW STILL WANTED FOR MURDER - vessel escaped to the UAE from Somalia after the murder of a TFG policeman and the attempted murder of another police officer - unhindered by international naval forces. See our earlier updates for details.
FV WIN FAR 161 - The freed vessel returned under mainland China's naval escort back to Taiwan, but an independent investigation into the death of at least one Chinese and one Indonesian sailor as well as into the involvement of the ship in the attack on US-flagged container vessel MV MAERSK ALABAMA has not yet been completed, while Hsieh Long-yan, president of the ship's owner Win Far Fishery, continues to be elusive and evades questions asking e.g. why he lied to the Foreign Minister of Taiwan and why he didn't facilitate relief and medical support for the crew during many month.
M.S.V. ABDUL RAZAK: Seized before February 23, 2010 and after 17 November 2008 (latest contact). The 40m ship with 9 crew of Indian nationality was captured by Somali sea-shifta. on her way from Kandala to Dubai. No information concerning the condition of the crew available.
So far the vessel had been reported only as missing or lost at sea by the owner.
Reportedly a 7 men gang of sea-shifta from Garacad, a notorious pirate den at the Indian Ocean coast of North-Eastern Somalia, is/was commandeering the vessel.
Latest informations indicate that the vessel was already misused as pirate mother-ship far off in the Indian Ocean. An intensive search by ECOTERRA Intl. along the coast revealed that it is at present not at the Somali coasts.
Upcoming information says that it might have been involved in an encounter with a French naval vessel at the end of February 2009. It apparently sunk near the UAE and all crew are said to be dead.
1 YEMENI BOAT : Missing since 11. January 2010 from Warsha Island in Alaraj area in Yemen's province of Hudaida (not yet counted on list of pirated vessels - but mentioned here as alert). Originally two dhows had gone missing on the same day, but one - MSV AL HADRAMI 73 - was found by EU NAVFOR with the vessel abandoned and the crew missing, which apparently had left the vessel with a skiff because the engine had broken down. The vessel was towed back to Yemen and handed over to the owner on 20th February.
Legal Dispute: MV JAIKUR I - Though difficult, all the expatriate crew could with the assistance of ECOTERRA Intl. be freed and repatriated. The vessel is left unattended by the shipowner, who tries to continue business as usual with clandestine shipments, incl. from WFP to Somalia, using the sister ship. The vessel is still at Mogadishu harbour and poses now an extreme environmental hazard risk, because it is crushing against the water breakers.
Legal Dispute: MV LEILA - The Panama-flagged but UAE owned Ro-Ro cargo ship of 2,292 grt with IMO NO. 7302794 and MMSI NO. 352723000 , is held at the Somaliland port of Berbera since September 15, 2009 at gunpoint and under a court order in a legal dispute between Somaliland authorities, cargo owners and the ship-owner. Somali company Omar International claims cargo damages caused by fire on MV MARIAM STAR who caught fire on the upper deck while at Berbera port in early September of 2009. MV MIRIAM STAR - a fleet-sister-ship - is likewise still at Berbera. Though difficult, all the expatriate crew could with the assistance of ECOTERRA Intl. be freed and repatriated. BOTH ABANDONED SHIPS POSE NOW A GRAVE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY HAZARD TO BERBERA PORT.
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With the latest captures and releases now still at least 22 seized foreign vessels (24 sea-related hostage cases since yacht SY LYNN RIVAL was abandoned and taken by the British Navy) with a total of not less than 406 crew members (incl. the British sailing couple) plus at least 9 crew of the lorries held for an exchange with imprisoned pirates, are accounted for. The cases are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed too. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases for Somalia and the mistaken sinking of one sea-jacked fishing vessel and killing of her crew by the Indian naval force. For 2009 the account closed with 228 incidences (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 68 vessels seized for different reasons on the Somali/Yemeni captor side as well as at least TWELVE wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces.
For 2010 the recorded account around the Horn of Africa stands at 106 attacks by Somali sea-shifta resulting in 43 sea-jackings on the one side and the sinking of one merchant vessel (MV AL ABI) by machine-gun fire from the Seychelles's coastguard boat TOPAZ and the wrongful attack by the Indian navy on a Yemeni fishing vessel on the other.
The naval alliances had since August 2008 and until May 2010 apprehended 1090 suspected pirates, detained and kept or transferred for prosecution 480, killed at least 64 and wounded over 24 Somalis.
You can find the complete story here :
http://australia.to/2010/index.php?...tus-of-abducted-vessels-in-somalia&Itemid=223
: Do these pirates have any recruitment centres in North America? 
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