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Asia
Mar 30, 2010
100 sailors seized by pirates
AHMEDABAD (India) - UP TO 100 Indian sailors have been captured by Somali pirates who seized seven or eight boats in one of their biggest raids yet, a shipping body told AFP on Tuesday. The cargo vessels, from the western Indian state of Gujarat, were reported missing at the weekend when a local shipping body received a call from the crew of a boat that had escaped the attack.
'On Saturday afternoon we got the information that seven or eight vessels registered with us have been hijacked by Somali pirates,' said Mr Kasam Ali, president of the shipping group Kutch Vahanvati Association in Gujarat. 'Eighty to 100 people who were on these vessels are missing,' he added. Navy sources said they had been alerted by the ministry of shipping to eight missing boats. India, whose merchant navy has frequently been targeted off the coast of Somalia, has a warship in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia.
Navy spokesman P.B.S. Satish confirmed to AFP that eight boats were missing but said it was too early to say if they had been taken over by pirates. The Times of India newspaper reported that the ships were on their way to Dubai when they were hijacked after leaving a port in the rebel territory of Kismayo in Somalia. No ransom demand has been made so far, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources, while the ships are currently believed to be near the Seychelles. -- AFP
Mar 30, 2010
100 sailors seized by pirates
AHMEDABAD (India) - UP TO 100 Indian sailors have been captured by Somali pirates who seized seven or eight boats in one of their biggest raids yet, a shipping body told AFP on Tuesday. The cargo vessels, from the western Indian state of Gujarat, were reported missing at the weekend when a local shipping body received a call from the crew of a boat that had escaped the attack.
'On Saturday afternoon we got the information that seven or eight vessels registered with us have been hijacked by Somali pirates,' said Mr Kasam Ali, president of the shipping group Kutch Vahanvati Association in Gujarat. 'Eighty to 100 people who were on these vessels are missing,' he added. Navy sources said they had been alerted by the ministry of shipping to eight missing boats. India, whose merchant navy has frequently been targeted off the coast of Somalia, has a warship in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia.
Navy spokesman P.B.S. Satish confirmed to AFP that eight boats were missing but said it was too early to say if they had been taken over by pirates. The Times of India newspaper reported that the ships were on their way to Dubai when they were hijacked after leaving a port in the rebel territory of Kismayo in Somalia. No ransom demand has been made so far, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources, while the ships are currently believed to be near the Seychelles. -- AFP
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