Pirates Seize German Cargo Ship, Again

Somali pirates hijacked the MV Victoria Tuesday afternoon off the southern coast of Yemen for the second time in a year.

The German cargo ship was carrying 10 crewmembers in the Gulf of Aden in the latest seizure by high-seas bandits who are holding hundreds of merchant mariners hostage.

The Victoria, was captured Tuesday afternoon 75 miles south of Yemen, according to Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet. He had no information on the condition of the 10 Romanian crewmembers onboard the Antigua and Barbuda-flag ship.

The ship was in a convoy of several ships on Tuesday when it was attacked by eight pirates. A Turkish frigate dispatched a helicopter to the scene, but it was too late to prevent the hijacking.

It was carrying a cargo of 10,000 tons of rice destined for the Saudi port of Jeddah. While it is owned by German shipping company the Tschudi Group, the MV Victoria is registered in Antigua and Barbuda. According to a government spokesman, the crew is Romanian.

The cargo and its crew of 10 was being taken toward the Port of Eyl, a key pirate base in the northern Somali breakaway region of Punt land.

The Victoria is the same ship that was hijacked with its crew of 21 Indian sailors last May 17 off the Somali coast when it was carrying 4,200 metric tons of bagged sugar for war-ravaged Somalia, which has been hit by food shortages.

The ship and its crew were later released after its owners paid a ransom.

The Gulf of Aden is one of the world's most important shipping lanes, connecting Europe and Asia via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is used by 20,000 ships a year and has become the world's hot spot for pirate attacks.

At least 19 ships are now being held by Somali pirates, and about 250 sailors from countries around the world are being held hostage in the Gulf of Aden and directly off Somalia's eastern coast.

Antigua and Barbuda's government said the vessel is registered with the European Union anti-piracy flotilla operating in the region and was in the recommended east-west corridor of the gulf at the time of the hijacking.

The government statement said eight pirates hijacked the ship, and they were believed to be steering it toward the Somali coast town of Eyl — a known hotbed for piracy.

The Romanian representative of the International Transporters' Federation, Adrian Mihalcioiu, said the incident happened in the strip secured by vessels operating under a NATO mandate.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.