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Pinoy Abroad

Pirates seize Algerian-flagged ship with Pinoys


(Updated 5:21 p.m.) Pirates on New Year’s day seized an Algerian-flagged cargo ship with Algerian, Filipino and Ukranian crew on board, the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) reported Sunday. The 20,586-ton MV Blida was 150 nautical miles southeast of port Salalah, Oman when it was seized, EU NAVFOR said in its online bulletin. "[The] MV Blida has a crew of 27 (Algerian, Ukrainian and Filipino) and is carrying a cargo of clinker," the naval security group said. The bulk carrier was on its way to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from Salalah in Oman at the time of the attack, but no further details were given in the report. It is unclear how many Filipino seafarers were on board the ship when it was seized. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) could not be reached for comment as of posting time. With the MV Blida, there are now 28 vessels and 654 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, according to the EU NAVFOR. Last week, Somali pirates held seven Filipino seafarers aboard the German-owned cargo vessel MV EMS River. Philippine officials are working to have the seven Filipinos released, the DFA earlier said. Prior to this most recent incident of piracy involving Filipino seafarers, the DFA said there were 107 Filipino aboard nine vessels held captive by pirates. In a separate release, the United Filipino Seafarers said 2010 recorded over 700 seafarers who were victims of piracy around the Horn of Africa, with 243 incidents of piracy of which at least 202 were staged by Somali pirates. Of 1.2 million estimated seafarers worldwide, more than 300,000 are Filipinos, the Apostleship of the Sea, a UK-based advocacy group, said. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, piracy off the Somali coast has been a threat to international shipping. Piracy has added to huge increases in shipping costs and has impeded the delivery of food aid shipments — 90 percent of the World Food Programme's shipments to Africa passing through the Somali coast now require a military escort. In many reports, the United Nations has suggested that unabated illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters by foreign vessels have driven Somali fishermen — severely constrained to earn a living — to turn to piracy instead. From 2003 to 2004, Somalia lost about $100 million in revenue due to illegal tuna and shrimp fishing in the country's exclusive economic zone by foreign trawlers, the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom said in a 2005 report. Poverty is widespread in Somalia, with millions depending on food aid. In 2008, the World Bank reported as much as 73 percent of the population lived on a daily income below $2. Some pirates have claimed that they became pirates in order to protect their waters, following the absence of an effective national coastguard following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War and the breakdown of the Armed Forces. This belief is also reflected in the names taken on by some of the pirate networks, such as the National Volunteer Coast Guard. — With Jerrie Abella/Jesse Edep/VS, GMANews.TV
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