The coastguards have made their mark again just today!
Mon Jan 3, 2011 11:19AM
Somali pirates have hijacked an Algerian-owned fishing vessel with 27 crew members onboard about 150 nautical miles southeast of the Omani port of Salalah.
The European Union's anti-piracy task force said that the MV Blida, heading to Tanzania, was hijacked Saturday in the Indian Ocean, the Associated Press reported.
Among the crew of the Blida, 17 are Algerians, along with six Ukrainians, one Jordanian, one Indonesian and two Filipinos.
The incident has brought to 109 the number of Filipino seafarers on board 10 vessels captive by pirates.
According to the Apostleship of the Sea, a United Kingdom-based advocacy group, of 1.2 million estimated seafarers worldwide, more than 300,000 are Filipinos.
Somali pirates currently hold at least 28 vessels and 654 hostages. The pirates managed to stage 37 successful hijackings in the first 10 months of 2010, up from 33 in the same period of 2009.
The waters off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia are considered the world's most dangerous for persistent piracy attempts in the area.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
RZS/TG/HRF
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158438.html
It's quite interesting that the Somali coastguards are protecting Omani interests aswell as their own.
