Report: Somali pirates hijack vessel with 21 Pinoys

Pirates struck anew in the Gulf of Aden Monday, seizing a Greek-owned chemical tanker with a crew that includes 21 Filipinos, a Somali news site reported. The Somalia Report said eight armed pirates aboard a small speedboat seized the MT Liquid Velvet and are headed to the Bargal area. "My friends called me and said they are on the vessel and are heading to Bargal area," said Faysal, a Somali pirate who is a "friend" of the hijackers. He said the pirates who took the tanker hails from the Majeerteen clan, specially Siwaaqroon, a sub-clan of Majeerteen. But Somalia Report quoted other sources as saying the MT Liquid Velvet is under the control of a pirate group known as Seed under the leadership of Husen Sanweyne. According to the report, the ship has 21 Filipino crew members and a Greek national reportedly serving as a security consultant. It said the ship was taken in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. An update as of Wednesday (Manila time) said it was anchored off Bandar Burcaayo or Rasu Bina near Bargal. The report quoted the pirate as saying the leader of this group is Aw-kombe, a well known pirate in the Bari region. It added the MT Liquid Velvet, originally the Liquid Challenge until it was renamed in 2009, is a 17-year-old Japanese built chemical tanker with a gross tonnage of 5,998 tons. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker is 114 meters long, has a bean of 20 meters and draught of 7.2 meters. It is one of a dozen tankers owned and managed by Athens-based Elmira Tankers. — LBG, GMA News