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Mogadighu: Pirates hijacked a Thai fishing boat with 16 crew members Tuesday off the coast of Somalia, the same day a major Norwegian shipping group ordered its tankers to sail around Africa rather than use the Suez Canal following the hijacking of a Saudi oil tanker.
The US and other naval forces decided against intervening in the seizure of the supertanker, which was carrying $100 million in crude. The pirates captured an Iranian cargo ship Tuesday, the eighth ship seized in 12 days.
Odfjell SE said it made the decision to divert its ships after pirates seized the Saudi Arabian supertanker MV Sirius Star Saturday hundreds of miles off the coast of Kenya, the most brazen attack yet by Somalian pirates.
"We will no longer expose our crew to the risk of being hijacked and held for ransom by pirates in the Gulf of Aden," said Terje Storeng, Odfjell's president and chief executive. "Unless we are explicitly committed by existing contracts to sail through this area, as from today we will reroute our ships around Cape of Good Hope."
Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau said the Thai boat was seized in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday as it travelled toward the Mideast.
The vessel was captured the same day that pirates hijacked an Iranian bulk cargo carrier with 25 crew members. Saturday's attack on the Saudi supertanker was the most brazen attack in the region yet.
The Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, connects to the Red Sea, which in turn is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. The route is thousands of miles and many days shorter than going around the Cape of Good Hope off the southern tip of Africa.
"This will incur significant extra cost, but we expect our customers' support and contribution," said Storeng.
While Somali pirates have seized 36 ships over the past year, among them a Ukrainian ship loaded with arms that is still being held, never had they seized a vessel as large as the Sirius Star and so far out to sea. The tanker was more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, an area far south of the zone where warships have increased their patrols.
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