Royal Navy hands over eight suspected pirates | Live piracy map

Pirates operating off the east coast of Africa struck again today when a cargo ship with an international crew was seized in the Gulf of Aden.

The latest act of piracy in the dangerous waters of the Arabian Sea came as a hijacked supertanker carrying $100 million of crude oil remained anchored off the lawless Somali coast.

Chinese state media has reported that the Hong Kong registered ship named Delight was seized this afternoon as it headed towards the Bandar Abbas port in Iran carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat.

Jane Campbell, US Navy Commander of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, says the ship is likely to be heading toward an anchorage site off the coast of Somalia.

The nationalities of the 25 crew members are unknown but it is not thought they are from Hong Kong or mainland China.

The Saudi-owned supertanker seized by pirates on Sunday also had an international crew of 25, two of whom are British. The Foreign Office confirmed this afternoon that one of the Britons was the ship’s chief engineer and the other holds the rank of second officer.

Vela International, the ship’s owners, said today that the crew were safe and that their response team was awaiting further contact with the gang.

The Sirius Star, which was carrying two million barrels of oil, was captured 450 miles off the coast of Kenya on Sunday in one of the most audacious acts of piracy ever recorded.

The International Maritime Bureau has reported that at least 83 ships have been attacked in the perilous shipping lanes near Somalia since January. Of those, 33 were hijacked but never before have pirates seized a ship as large or valuable as the tanker carrying a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil production.

According to eyewitnesses, the 1,000ft hijacked ship was anchored overnight just off the lawless Somali coast. It was said to be within sight of the town of Harardhere, which is around 265 miles from the pirate haven of Eyl.

Abdinur Haji, a fisherman who lives near Harardhere, said: “As usual, I woke up at 3am and headed for the sea to fish, but I saw a very, very large ship anchored less than three miles off the shore.”

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