A U.S. destroyer is shadowing a ship off the coast of Somalia after it was taken over by 50 pirates, authorities said.
The M/V Iceberg was identified last week after the USS McFaul conducted a 36-hour surveillance mission, the multi-national Combined Maritime Forces said in a statement. The USS McFaul began shadowing the Panamanian-flagged vessel May 19 before the M/V Iceberg reversed course and began heading toward the Somali coast.
"We cannot be sure what the pirates' plan was if they had not been interrupted," said Rear Adm. Beom Rim Lee, commander of the Combined Maritime Forces task force.
"The vessel may have been on its way to either assist other pirates in distress, or look for another merchant vessel to attack," he said.
Map locates most recent pirate attack in the Indian Ocean
MOSCOW — The pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of "imperfections" in international law, the Defense Ministry said Friday, a claim that sparked skepticism — and even suspicion the pirates might have been killed.
Authorities initially said the pirates would be brought to Russia to face criminal charges for hijacking a Russian oil tanker. But Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexei Kuznetsov told The Associated Press on Friday that the pirates had been released.
Kuznetsov declined to elaborate on the purported legal flaws that prompted the release and it was unclear how the seizure of the tanker might be legally different from last year's alleged hijacking of the Russian-crewed freighter Arctic Sea.
That vessel allegedly was seized by pirates in the Baltic Sea off Sweden and went missing for several days before a Russian warship tracked it down off West Africa. The eight alleged pirates were flown to Moscow to face eventual trial.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic guns hijacked a chemical tanker off East Africa with 22 crew members on board, the European Union Naval force said Saturday.
Spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour said there is little chance that military forces can storm the ship because officials don't believe the crew all made it to a safe room before the pirates boarded. The crew consists of 19 Indians, 2 Bangladeshis and 1 Ukrainian, he said. The ship — the Marida Marguerite — was heading from India to Belgium.
Also Saturday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said a Taiwanese fishing boat was hijacked off the Somali coast by pirates who demanded a ransom for the crew.
The ship's Taiwanese owner lost contact with Tai Yuan 227 two days ago as it headed for the Maldives. When the owner resumed contact with the vessel a day later, he was told by hijackers to pay a ransom for the crew, the ministry said.
"The boat has since changed direction to sail toward Somalia, so this may very well have been done by the Somali pirates," the ministry said in a statement. "We hope that the many other boats sailing in the area can stay alert and avoid the pirates from launching an attack at other boats from the Tai Yuan 227."
Russian Oil tanker freed. Crew are well and alive.
Russian marines Thursday stormed a hijacked Russian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden in a daring early morning raid, killing one of the Somali pirates aboard and capturing another ten.
The oil tanker's crew of 23 escaped unharmed after the marines from the destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov sped in small boats to the tanker Moscow University and scaled its sides before exchanging fire with the pirates.
"The tanker was freed last night as a result of a successful armed operation by marines from the Marshal Shaposhnikov," a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry told AFP.
The operation, which lasted over three hours, was hailed by Russian officials as a decisive show of Russia's naval capabilities.
"It was sharp, professional and quick," said President Dmitry Medvedev, ordering Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to give medals to all those involved in the rescue.
A Russian warship is rushing to assist an oil tanker which has been hijacked by Somali pirates off East Africa.
The Marshal Shaposhnikov was heading to assist the Moscow University, which was attacked 500 miles (800km) off the Somali coast, officials said.
Shots were fired at the 96,000-tonne tanker from two speedboats, the ship's owner said.
The 23 Russian crew on board are reported to have locked themselves in the ship's radar room.
"At the time of the attack, the Moscow University was heading east with a final destination of China," said the European Union's Navfor naval force in a statement.
