Somali pirates capture Thai vessel with Russian sailors

The Thai-flagged fishing trawler FV THAI UNION 3 was sea-jacked Thursday around 05h30 UTC = -8h30 local time by presumed Somali pirates attacking from two skiffs in the Indian Ocean at position 01° 55'S and 055° 53'E - about 200 nautical miles north of the Seychelles archipelago and 650 miles off the Somali coast.

A EU NAVFOR naval aircraft spotted pirates aboard the ship when it was 370 kilometres north of the Seychelles and moving at 8 knots (9 mph) speed it is expected to arrive not before November 1 at the Somali coast. It is the fourth vessel hijacked in the area over the past fortnight, and the eighth currently being held, since the 9th abducted vessel the S/Y LYNN RIVAL was retrieved by the navies after the hostages had been moved.

The Thai Foreign Ministry finally confirmed the abduction of the vessel with a crew of 23 Russians, 2 nationals from Ghana and two Filipinos. Preliminary reports said the sailors were not hurt when the vessel was seized.

Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said that the Thai embassy based in Manama, capital of Bahrain has been informed by the EU navy and the ministry has assigned the embassy based in Nairobi, capital of Kenya which oversees foreign affairs with Somalia, to ask for cooperation from Somalia government. If possible, Thailand will negotiate with the pirates, the deputy spokesman said. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has not received any information and it depends further verification, an official with the ministry's department of fisheries said in a telephone interview with Xinhua.

Thiraphong Chansiri, president of Thai Union Frozen Products Plc, the country's largest producer and exporter of canned and frozen seafood products, confirmed yesterday the Thai Union 3 seized by the Somali pirates was one of four vessels in its fleet north of the Seychelles.

The four vessels account for only 5% of the group's total shipping capacity.

Mr Thiraphong said damage was likely to be marginal, and an insurance firm would handle negotiations with the pirates and take care of any losses incurred.

However, he was most concerned about the safety of the 25 crew members, none of whom are Thais.

The Thai Union 3 is the third ship from Thailand seized in the area. Last year a Thai fishing vessel flying the Kiribati flag and the MV Thor Star owned by Thoresen Thai Agencies Plc were hijacked.

The hijacking of the Thai vessel takes the number of ships now being held by pirates off the Somali coastline to eight, the EU force said.

The owner of the Thailand-flagged fishing vessel was ready for negotiations with pirates, a spokesman for a Kaliningrad-based crewing company said on Friday.

Representatives of Singapore's Sayan Fishing company, which owns the ship, are planning to start negotiations in the near future," the spokesman said. Talks may start after the ship arrives in a Somali port.

An International Transport Workers' Federation official said earlier on Friday the pirates had so far not demanded a ransom.

At present foreign warships from 16 nations are in the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea-shifta now hunt for ships far into the Indian Ocean.

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