Maritime bureau: Pirates seize tanker with Pinoy crewmembers

Armed pirates on Wednesday allegedly boarded tanker with Filipino crew members off the Republic of Benin in Africa then sailed to an unknown location, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said. The IMB's Live Piracy Report said the incident occurred at 1:21 a.m. UTC (9:21 a.m. in Manila) around 62 nautical miles southwest of Cotonou, Benin. "The pirates sailed the vessel to a unknown location," the IMB said. Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is still verifying the report as of posting time. A separate report posted on New York-based student news station Channel 6 News cited a "BNO News" report indicating the attacked vessel was a Cyprus-flagged fuel tanker. It said officials in Benin and Cyprus said the hijacked vessel was carrying crew members from the Philippines, Spain, Peru, and Ukraine. The report said the condition of the abducted seafarers were not immediately known, "although pirates do usually not harm their hostages." The BNO report cited a recent study showing that maritime piracy cost the global economy around $12 billion last year, with Somalia-based pirates responsible for 95 percent of the costs. - VVP, GMA News