Somali pirates attack tanker loaded with oil
(Read article summary)Saturday's attack highlights the difficulty international forces face in patrolling the waters off Africa's coast.
In what may be their most brazen attack yet, Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker stocked with oil Saturday, the US Navy said today.
The incident raises questions about the ability of international efforts to thoroughly monitor the dangerous waters off Somalia's coast, where such attacks have increased by 75 percent this year. Saturday's seizure is believed to be the biggest ship pirates have nabbed, and the hijacking occurred farther off the coast of Africa than pirates have roamed thus far. Now, "even the world's largest vessels are vulnerable," reports the Associated Press (AP).
The MV Sirius Star, owned by Saudi oil company Aramco but flagged by Liberia, was heading to the Caribbean when it was attacked 450 miles off the coast of Kenya.
According to the The Times (of London) the ship and its 25-member crew, which includes Britons, Croatians, Poles, Filipinos, and Saudi Arabians, are heading toward an area believed to be a safe haven for pirates.
Bloomberg reports that some news outlets have declared the ship has been freed. But the US Navy says the ship is believed to be heading toward the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland.
