Somali pirates seize Greek-owned tanker
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
- 10 February 2012: Wikinews Shorts: February 10, 2012
- 19 October 2011: Kenya troops enter Somalia after kidnappings
- 15 July 2011: Drought stricken Somalia nears famine
- 11 June 2011: Somali interior minister killed by bomb attack in own home
- 24 February 2011: Pirates kill four American hostages
Somali pirates have seized the Greek-owned Maran Centaurus, an oil tanker with 28 crew members on board, yesterday, according to reports.
Officials say the tanker, which can transport more than two million barrels of oil, was sailing from Saudi Arabia to the United States when it was hijacked. A tanker full of oil could be worth millions of dollars, and possibly pose a significant security and environmental threat. Authorities, however, couldn't immediately ascertain how much oil the vessel was carrying.
The ship's crew consists of sixteen Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians, and one Romanian, the Al Jazeera news agency reports.
Somali pirates have hijacked dozens of ships over the past two years, demanding and receiving millions of dollars in ransom from the hijacked ships' owners.
[edit] Sources
- "Somali Pirates Seize Greek-Owned Tanker" — VOA News, November 30, 2009
- "Somali priates hijack oil tanker" — Al Jazeera, November 30, 2009
