Somali pirates in high gear on high seas

MOGADISHU, Somalia, April 8 (UPI) -- Suspected pirates hijacking ships along Somalia's lawless coast have overtaken at least three ships and nearly 60 crew members this week, naval officials said.

The incidents are the latest in a string of hijackings of at least 16 ships and an estimated 240 crew members since the end of the monsoon season in recent weeks.

Suspected pirates hijacked the South Korean supertanker Samho Dream Sunday with 24 sailors on board and warned a South Korean warship chasing the supertanker to stay away or risk endangering the crew's safety, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Thursday.

Suspected Somali pirates hijacked the Turkish vessel MV Yasin C with a crew of 25 off the Kenyan coast Wednesday, said the European Union Naval Force, charged with helping to prevent piracy off Somalia's coast.

The Wednesday hijacking followed the commandeering by suspected Somali pirates of an Indian cargo dhow, a traditional Arab sailing vessel, and the drowning of a hostage Tuesday after the dhow was used to attack another vessel and navies, including from the United States, intervened.

The suspected pirates aboard the commandeered dhow Faize Osamani tried to attack the MV Rising Sun, which evaded the attack and sent a distress signal, the U.S. Fifth Fleet said.
An Omani warship arrived first and the nine hostages jumped overboard to swim away from the pirates. One hostage drowned and the eight others were rescued, the Fifth Fleet said.

The U.S. destroyer USS McFaul arrived later. Its crew helped persuade the 10 suspected pirates to surrender and then took them into custody, the Fifth Fleet said.

"It's something we have to be prepared for now," McFaul Executive Officer Lt. Cmdr. Matt Pederson told The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot from the McFaul. "It's a scourge."

Somalia has had no effective central government since 1991, when the former government was toppled by clan militias that later turned on each other.

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