Thursday, October 7, 2010

Taiwanese Vessel Hijacked

As Reported Here  
By Press TV:
Suspected Somali pirates have hijacked a Taiwanese fishing vessel with fourteen crew members onboard in the Indian Ocean, a piracy-monitoring group says.


Coordinator of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, Andrew Mwangura, said that FV Feng Guo was seized 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Mauritius.

The waters off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia are considered the world's most dangerous due to rising piracy.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels going from Asia to Europe and the Americas every year.

However, attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates in speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing a hike in shipping costs.

Somalia, located in the strategic Horn of Africa, does not have a functional government and the Transitional Federal Government does not have much control beyond the capital city Mogadishu. 



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