20/08/08 (B461-B) Toujours pas de vacances pour les Pirates somaliens ! Hier mardi, ils se sont emparés d’un tanker malaysien avec 20 hommes d’équipage à bord (2 dépêches en Anglais – Infos lecteur)

________________________________Shabelle

Pirates seize Malaysian ship off Somali coast

Heavily armed pirates with two speed boats were reported to have kidnapped a Malaysian commercial vessel on Tuesday officials said.

Twenty crew members from Philippine and Malaysia were onboard the ship who was carrying crude oil to Somalia.

No further details on the hijacking are availible.

A global maritime watchdog says pirates have seized the ship in the Gulf of Eden off the coast of Somalia.

Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, says the center picked up a distress signal late Tuesday and immediately notified Western naval ships patrolling the area.

Choong said Wednesday that a warship has been sent to intercept the tanker, which is currently heading toward Somalia territorial waters, adding that this marked the fourth hijacking in Somalia within a month

_______________________________ BBC

Pirates ‘seize ship’ off Somalia

Pirates have hijacked a tanker with more than 20 crew on board in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, a global maritime watchdog has said.

A distress signal was received and the ship is now thought to be en route to coastal waters near Somalia.

The Malaysian-owned tanker is carrying crude palm oil and is thought to have a mostly Malaysian and Filipino crew.

Pirate attacks on vessels and yachts sailing the major shipping route close to Somalia have surged recently.

No direct contact has been made with the captain of the ship, said the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre.

But the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation, which owns the vessel, is said to be expecting a ransom demand once it is anchored in coastal waters.

Tuesday night’s hijacking was the fourth in this area in the past few weeks, the International Maritime Bureau said.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991 and has suffered continuing civil strife.

In June, the UN Security Council voted to allow countries to send warships into Somalia’s waters to tackle piracy.