ID :
179549
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 11:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/179549
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Hijacked vessel with S. Koreans aboard brought to stop in Somali waters: official
SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) -- A hijacked chemical tanker carrying four South Koreans has stopped in waters some 350 kilometers off the Somali coast, with no contact from the pirates or the 25-member crew, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The 21,000-ton MT Gemini, registered in Singapore, was hijacked in waters off Kenya Saturday en route from Indonesia to the African country. It is the latest in a series of hijackings involving South Koreans in the pirate-infested region near the Horn of Africa.
The crew also included 13 Indonesians, three Myanmar nationals and five Chinese.
"As of this morning, the hijacked vessel was found to have stopped in waters some 350 km off the Somalian capital of Mogadishu," the ministry's spokesman, Cho Byung-jae, told reporters during a press briefing. "There has been no contact from the vessel until now."
He repeated the government's stance that Singapore must handle the situation, although Seoul has also set up a task force to work closely with the Singaporean government on the matter.
Somali pirates are known to have won large ransoms in return for the release of the foreign ships and crew that they hijack, triggering speculation the pirates aboard the MT Gemini will soon contact the ship's Singaporean owner to arrange a similar deal.
hague@yna.co.kr
The 21,000-ton MT Gemini, registered in Singapore, was hijacked in waters off Kenya Saturday en route from Indonesia to the African country. It is the latest in a series of hijackings involving South Koreans in the pirate-infested region near the Horn of Africa.
The crew also included 13 Indonesians, three Myanmar nationals and five Chinese.
"As of this morning, the hijacked vessel was found to have stopped in waters some 350 km off the Somalian capital of Mogadishu," the ministry's spokesman, Cho Byung-jae, told reporters during a press briefing. "There has been no contact from the vessel until now."
He repeated the government's stance that Singapore must handle the situation, although Seoul has also set up a task force to work closely with the Singaporean government on the matter.
Somali pirates are known to have won large ransoms in return for the release of the foreign ships and crew that they hijack, triggering speculation the pirates aboard the MT Gemini will soon contact the ship's Singaporean owner to arrange a similar deal.
hague@yna.co.kr
