Pirates hijack oil tanker off East Africa

NAIROBI. March 30. KAZINFORM Pirates in two skiffs fired rocket-propelled grenades and guns at an oil tanker off East Africa before boarding the vessel and hijacking it, naval officials said; Kazinform refers to Arab News.

The United Arab Emirates-flagged Zirku was traveling from Sudan to Singapore when it was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, the EU Naval Force said. The ship has a crew of 29. There was no information on their status.

Previous oil tankers hijacked by pirates were carrying oil valued in the range of $150 million. There was no immediate information released on how many barrels of oil the tanker was carrying.

India's navy and coast guard had earlier captured 16 Somali pirates after a three-hour-long battle in the Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said Monday.

Also, 16 crew members who had been taken hostage by the pirates were rescued from the hijacked Iranian trawler off India's western Lakshadweep islands on Sunday, Captain Manohar Nambiar said.

The pirates were using the trawler as a roving pirate base to launch attacks on passing vessels in the Indian Ocean, he said.

The pirates were trying to seize a merchant ship, MV Maersk Kensington, when a coast guard vessel and an Indian naval ship picked up its distress signals and went to its aid; Kazinform cites Arab News.

See www.arabnews.com for full version