MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Somali pirates have seized a chemical tanker in the south Somali basin, some 180 nautical miles northwest of Seychelles, the EU NAVFOR Somalia said in a press release.
The Theresa VIII tanker, operated from Singapore and flying the flag of Virgin Islands, was hijacked on Monday while heading to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. It has a crew of 28 North Koreans.
The vessel, with a deadweight of 22,294 metric tons, has turned around and is now heading north, the EU force said.
In a report to the UN Security Council issued on Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the deployment of navy vessels and aircraft "is playing a critical role in stabilizing the situation at sea," and has "considerably reduced the number of successful incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea in the region, especially in the Gulf of Aden.
A total of 306 incidents of piracy were reported worldwide in 2008, including 136 in the East African region, Ban said in the report. Three hundred incidents were reported between January and September this year, including 160 in East Africa. As of October 27, eight vessels and 178 sailors were being held hostage, the report said.
In the first nine months of this year, 34 ships were hijacked and in excess of 450 seafarers were taken hostage, but just two vessels were seized from July to September. The report added that pirate activity had increased in recent weeks.
Last Wednesday, pirates hijacked a Greek vessel, Filitsa, with a crew of three Greek and 19 Philippine nationals some 460 miles off Seychelles.
