9 Filipino seamen among 23 in hijacked ship off Somalia

(Updated 11:15 p.m.) The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that nine Filipino seamen were among the 23 crew of a Japanese chemical tanker hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Eden off the coast of Somalia last Sunday. Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Esteban Conejos Jr. said the DFA is coordinating with the representatives of the ship owner, the Japanese government, and international shipping authorities on efforts to secure the safe release of the crew and the ship. The DFA is in contact with the families of the Filipino seamen who are on board "Golden Nori," a Panamanian-flagged vessel owned by Despina Shipping Co. of Japan. The Office of Vice President Noli de Castro, concurrently presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers, provided GMANews.TV the names of the Filipino seamen. They are: Capt. Restituto Bulinan, chief officer Melchor Cayabyab, 2nd officer Loreto Quiles, 3rd officer Raymundo Panaligan Jr, chief engineer Mario Ocenar, 1st engineer Adelino Amparo, 2nd engineers Virgilio Lotoc and Bosun Laureano Villanueva, and chief cook Ismael Perez. "We are closely monitoring this hostage crisis in Somalia. We assure the public that our government is taking all the necessary steps in order to secure the safe release of the nine Filipino seamen," De Castro said in a text message to GMANews.TV. Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, said on Monday that the center immediately notified Western naval ships patrolling the area of the hijacking after picking up a distress signal from the tanker late Sunday, but it was too late. ''The vessel and its 23 crew members comprising Koreans, Filipinos and Myanmar nationals have been confirmed hijacked by pirates. The vessel has entered Somali territorial waters,'' he told The Associated Press. No other details were immediately available, he said. This was the second hijacking since Oct. 17 after pirates opened fire and seized a general cargo ship flying under a Comoros Island flag and operated by a Dubai-based company, Choong said. In addition, there have been at least five attempted attacks in the past two weeks in which pirates opened fire on vessels but later abandoned their pursuits, he said. Not counting these recent cases, Somalia has had 26 reported attacks this year, according to IMB data. ''It is worrying. The pirates are getting more aggressive and going further from the coast,'' Choong said. ''We call upon the coalition warships and Somali authorities to beef up patrol and take more serious action to stop the pirates.'' Ships are urged to stay more than 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast, he added. Somalia lies close to crucial shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean, where valuable cargo and carriers must pass. After 16 years of violence and anarchy, Somalia is now led by a UN-backed transitional government battling to establish authority and challenged by an Islamic insurgency. Its coasts are virtually unpoliced. - GMANews.TV, with reports from AP